RMF COP26 Comment: Round up

18 November 2021

What a few weeks it has been at the COP26 climate summit. In this week's final commentary we will be covering the closing agreements and final comments from the conference.

In his round up of the conference many noted Alok Sharma was notably emotional as he closed the event, many believe this to be due to a frustration that a number of UN countries watered down some of the phrasing of the agreement prior to signing. The wording that was of most concern was that instead of phasing out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies the pact stated that they woulld be 'phased down' and thus giving no clear or final end to them.

On a more positive note that was an consensus that accelerating climate action was essential and all countries agreed to review their emissions targets. There will be a Leaders summit in 2023 and yearly political roundtables to discuss progress against targets.

Another positive outcome worth noting was that when the UK took on the COP26 presidency in partnership with Italy nearly 2 years ago only 30% of the world nations had net zero targets, now that figure is at 90%.

Alok Sharma will hold the presidency until COP27 in Egypt next year and the eyes of the world are on how the pledges made will now translate it to real and lasting action especially for those poorer nations facing serious drought, hunger and humanitarian crisis as a result of climate change.

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