From Oct. 31 to Nov. 12, the center of gravity for the climate crisis is in Glasgow, Scotland at the 26th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—a.k.a. COP 26. In 2015, at COP 21, over 190 countries signed the Paris Agreement. This year, at COP 26, most of those signatories, along with NGOs, academics, corporations, and journalists will descend upon what was once one of the most heavily industrialized cities in Europe, to talk about how to decarbonize the world economy and make the promise of Paris real.
At stake is nothing less than the future of our planet for both people and nature. We’re already seeing the impacts of the climate crisis—wildfires, increased frequency and severity of storms, heatwaves, and flooding. The most recent report from the IPCC indicates the world is currently on a path to global warming of around 2.7 degrees Celsius when the goal of the Paris Agreement is to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. We still have it in our power to meet the climate crisis and reach net zero emissions by 2050, but it will take determination and we must get started on decarbonizing our economy now. COP 26 is our opportunity to make a decisive shift from planning to action.
