A woman walks through the venue of the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. The U.N. climate summit in Glasgow formally opens Sunday, a day before leaders from around the world gather in Scotland's biggest city to lay out their vision for addressing the common challenge of global warming. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, Pool)
Among the initial success of COP26, over 100 leaders have committed to an agreement seeking to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030 along with a deal to control methane emissions by 2030. With progress at the latest Conference of Parties in Glasgow seeming to move slower than expected, these may be the biggest deal signed this year.
An initiative led by United Kingdom prime Minister Boris Johnson has gotten the support of more than 100 national leaders to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by the end of the decade. Major nations which make up for 85 percent of the global forest cover including Canada, Russia, Congo, Indonesia and Brazil have voiced support for it.
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Meanwhile, more than 100 countries have made a pledge to cut methane emission levels by 30 percent by 2030. While Carbon Dioxide (CO2) gets most of the spotlight in the global climate debate, methane remains a potent gas greenhouse gases, which warms the planet by 28-34 times as compared to CO2 and is currently responsible for a third of current warming from human activities.
While climate activists have said the deals represent too little too late, world leaders repeatedly stressed that all global action must be based on consensus and 'incremental progress'. This has been the stated objective since the 90s when it was recognized that the problem is too large for a single nation.
Moneycontrol takes a look at the slow but sure pace at which the global community has woken up to the spectre of climate change, and the steady but often contentious path taken by nations to battle climate change.
Early steps
United Nations 1968-69 : Amidst opposition from few nations, in 1968 the United Nations Secretary-General delivers a report titled the 'Activities of United Nations Organizations and Programmes Relevant to the Human Environment'. The document is the earliest multilateral consensus regarding the environment and says that human actions are leading to unprecedented and potentially irreversible changes in the planet. The next year, a report is published by the UN which says current trends may lead to 'life on earth becoming endangered'.
Stockholm Convention 1972 : The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is established after the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm.
1973-74 : United Nations Member States adopt
The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Parties agree to monitor, regulate or ban trade in at-risk species. The world celebrates the first World Environment Day on 5 June, under the theme “Only One Earth.”
Montevideo Programme 1982 : UNEP’s Governing Council adopts the first Montevideo Programme, setting priorities for global environmental lawmaking. It supports the development of adequate and effective environmental legislation and legal frameworks at all levels to address environmental issues and strengthens the effective implementation of environmental law at the national level.
Rising threats
Montreal Protocol : All 197 United Nations Member States adopt the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The landmark multilateral environmental agreement regulates the production and consumption of nearly 100 human-made chemicals referred to as ozone-depleting substances. The Protocol is to date the only United Nations treaty to be ratified by every country on Earth.
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IPCC 1988 : The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is launched with the objective of providing governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies.
Basel Convention 1989 : As the threat of catastrophic chemical contamination from industrial accidents, rising number of oil spills and increasing challenge of nuclear disasters become more evident, the world seeks to sign a comprehensive solution. As many as 183 countries adopt the Basel Convention to regulate the movement and disposal of hazardous waste.
Kyoto Protocol 1992 : It extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the
scientific consensus that (part one) global warming is occurring and that human-made CO
2 emissions are driving it.
Desertification convention 1996 :The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification enters into force. The Convention, which has 195 parties, is the only legally binding international agreement that links environment and development to sustainable land management.
Millennium Declaration 2000 : It outlines the Millennium Development Goals, including environmental sustainability. Millennium Development Goal 7 sets specific environmental targets, including biodiversity loss, forest cover and access to safe drinking water.
Crisis levels reached
Copenhagen Accord 2008 : The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference raised climate change policy to the highest political level. Close to 115 world leaders attended the high-level segment, making it one of the largest gatherings of world leaders ever outside UN headquarters in New York. Countries attending the Conference agreed to 'take note' of the Copenhagen Accord which includes the non-binding long-term goal of limiting the maximum global average temperature increase to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Cancun Agreements 2010 : Countries commit for the first time to keep global temperature increases below 2°C.
Paris Climate Accord 2015 : All 192 UN member states pledge to limit long-term temperature rise to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, and preferably limit the increase to 1.5 °C, recognizing that this would substantially reduce the impacts of climate change.
Emissions rules decided 2018 : Global community settles on the rules for implementing the Paris accord, covering questions including how countries should report their emissions. They do not agree on rules for carbon trading, however, and push that discussion to 2019.
Glasgow Summit 2021 : More than one hundred countries, altogether accounting for nearly 60 percent of Paris Agreement signatories, meet the deadline to submit updated Nationally Determined Contributions ahead of COP26 in November. Some of the top emitters propose more ambitious targets. President Joe Biden announces that the United States will aim to cut its emissions to roughly half of its 2005 level by 2030, doubling US commitments.
