British conference president Alok Sharma expects talks at COP26, a world climate summit, to be “definitely more difficult” than the 2015 Paris Agreement. “It was fantastic what you did in Paris,” he told the Guardian (Saturday edition) – but “many of those detailed rules have been postponed to the foreseeable future.” Sharma compared the situation to the end of an exam: “The toughest questions remain and we are running out of time.”
More than 120 heads of state and government and about 25,000 delegates are expected to arrive in Glasgow, Scotland from 31 October. It is the largest climate conference since the Paris meeting and is considered important for setting global emissions targets to slow global warming.
During the Paris Agreement, 197 countries agreed to limit global warming to less than two degrees. For this, governments should submit national climate protection plans.
However, according to the United Nations, the measures announced so far are not enough to achieve the Paris target. The tightening of national climate protection plans will be an important part of talks in Glasgow.
Sharma pointed out that China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is yet to come up with a better plan. In July, however, the country promised to do so by the time of the conference. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin do not want to come to Glasgow in person. They are represented by diplomats.
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