COP President Speech
During his speech, COP26 President, Alok Sharma, highlights how climate change is affecting countries in a myriad of ways. From plagues of locusts in Africa, climate-induced famine in Madagascar, droughts, and floods in Nepal, in addition to, cyclones, wildfires, and record temperatures across the globe that pose a threat to survival. Sharma concludes his speech with a reminder of the promises made, “six years ago, in Paris, we agreed our shared goals. We said we would protect people and nature from the effects of climate change. We said we would get finance flowing to climate action. And we said we would limit the rise in global temperature to well below two degrees pursuing efforts towards 1.5.”
End Deforestation by 2030
Over 100 leaders representing 85% of the world’s forests have allied towards a common objective to end deforestation by 2030. With an impressively lengthy list of countries participating in this historic measure, regrettably Egypt is not one of them. The extensive list of participating nations includes Canada, Russia, Colombia, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Brazil. The pledge includes almost $19.2 billion of public and private funds.
India makes net zero promise
Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, makes a major promise announcing that India will target net zero emissions by 2070. Despite the promise coming two decades past the 2050 deadline, it remains a significant contribution considering India is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. In addition, Modi promised India’s transition in acquiring half of its energy from renewable resources by 2030.
Australia exceeds low emission targets
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison claims Australia is on track to lower its emissions by 35% by 2030, which exceeds the Paris Agreement initial target of 26-28%.
Climate financing promises
Developed nations are being prompted to deliver on their promise to allocate $100 billion in annual climate finance for developing countries, a goal originally promised in 2009 to be delivered by 2020.
UK launched a new “Green Clean Initiative”
The “Green Clean Initiative” endeavors to assist in augmenting public and private investment in global sustainable infrastructure, and pledged to deliver over £3 billion in climate financing for sustainable growth in developing countries over the next five years.
Xi Jinping written statement
Although Chinese President Xi Jinping did not attend the conference nor did he make any significant promises, he conveyed his concern through a written statement calling on developed countries to “provide support to help developing countries do better” in the fight against climate change.
Spanish government increases funding
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pledged that his government would increase its climate funding by 50% within the next few years.
