{"id":49706,"date":"2021-10-29T13:22:23","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T00:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=49706"},"modified":"2024-07-12T11:47:55","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T23:47:55","slug":"cop26-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-un-climate-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cop26-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-un-climate-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"COP26: Everything you need to know about the UN Climate Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COP26 \u2014 the 26th UN Climate Summit<\/a> \u2014 is taking place from Sunday, 31st October to Friday, 12th November and represents the world\u2019s next best chance for decisive climate action.\u00a0 Representatives from world governments, NGOs, businesses, faith groups, scientists, and other groups such as Indigenous Peoples delegations will come to Glasgow in the U.K. for this crucial meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

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The climate conference comes just a few months after the release of the latest report<\/a> by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). According to the scientists behind the report, the world needs to make immediate, dramatic and consistent emissions reductions to create the urgent and necessary change to contain the climate crisis. <\/p>\n\n

COP26 should play an important role in this scenario so here\u2019s a quick overview to understand how that can happen, what we expect and why you should care about what happens.<\/p>\n\n

First of all, what is COP26?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

COP26 is the specific name of the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference that will take place in Glasgow, Scotland from 31st October -12th November. The climate talks are also known as COP, which stands for \u201cConference of the Parties\u201d while the number indicates the number of years it has taken place since the first one in 1995 in Berlin. The 2020 summit got postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic so this year\u2019s is still the 26th COP. <\/p>\n\n

Yep, that\u2019s a lot of big international climate meetings.<\/p>\n\n

So why do we need this meeting?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Climate change represents an existential crisis, and there\u2019s only one way out of the worst case scenarios and that\u2019s to cut emissions drastically and fast.<\/p>\n\n

We need this meeting because right now COP is the only global forum where representatives from all over the world come together to discuss international climate and policy action related to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC (pro tip: pronounce it as U-N-F-triple C), the UN treaty 197 countries signed in efforts to tackle climate change. This year, we need them to commit to the massive emissions cuts.<\/p>\n\n

Due to Covid-19, many countries cannot participate in person this year but in COPs past, nearly every nation in the world is represented. Plans are presented and agreements are sometimes signed. Some of the governments come in good faith alongside representatives from small island states that could disappear from the map this century. <\/p>\n\n

\"Thousands
Thousands of people march in Madrid to demand politicians take ambitious action to save the climate. Several collectives, including Greenpeace and Fridays for Future, march along the Paseo del Prado street and end at Nuevos Ministerios where a music concert takes place. \u00a9 Pablo Blazquez \/ Greenpeace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Is this COP an important one?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Every COP is different, but Glasgow is the most significant global climate conference since the Paris COP in 2015. That was when most nations finally committed to ensure a safe, stable climate<\/a> by keeping temperature rises within 1.5C. <\/p>\n\n

COP26 is the deadline for governments to submit their plans to cut their emissions to stay under the 1.5C warming.<\/p>\n\n

While many countries recently laid out their plans to cut emissions and keep temperature rises below 1.5C, when you add them all together they fall far short of where we need to be. New Zealand hasn\u2019t even put forward a plan. The release of its long-awaited Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) was delayed again, and the ERP consultation document<\/a> was more hot air than climate action.<\/p>\n\n

The recent UN scientific report warned of a very bleak future if we don\u2019t do some big things very soon and Glasgow is where those big things need to be set in motion. We still have time if we act now, but we need all the laggard nations like New Zealand to quit the delay tactics and get on with reducing emissions. For New Zealand, that means tackling agricultural emissions.<\/p>\n\n

What does Greenpeace do at COP?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Greenpeace Aotearoa will not attend but Greenpeace is global and will send representatives to the COP because it\u2019s important to have experts, campaigners, and those on the frontlines of the climate crisis in the negotiations \u2013 observing, making contributions, and making sure that politicians are listening.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace also supports grassroots groups and representatives such as Indigenous leaders who attend. These communities are often the most exposed to climate impacts, despite being the least responsible. Decisions made at COP26 will often affect them most directly.<\/p>\n\n

\"Around
Around 30 activists climbed to the light towers of the parking place of the IFEMA Center, the venue that hosts the COP25, to protest about the \u201cfactors\u201d that pollute climate politics. \u00a9 Pablo Blazquez \/ Greenpeace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

What would success at COP26 look like?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Greenpeace has laid out for necessary climate actions that we want to see agreed to at COP26: <\/p>\n\n