What is all this fuss about COP26 ?

What is climate change ?

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, but since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels (like coal, oil, and gas), which produces heat-trapping gases - UN '20.

Climate change describes a change in the average conditions — such as temperature and rainfall — in a region over a long period of time.

 

What are the 5 effects of climate change?

1. More frequent and intense drought, 

2. storms, 

3. heat waves, 

4. rising sea levels, melting glaciers 

5. warming oceans can directly harm animals, destroy the places they live, and wreak havoc on people's livelihoods and communities.

 

What are the 3 main effects of climate change?

Effects that scientists had predicted in the past would result from global climate change are now occurring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves.

10 Climate Change Impacts That Will Affect Us All

• Damage to your home. ...
• More expensive home insurance. ...
• Outdoor work could become unbearable. ...
• Higher electric bills and more blackouts. ...
• Rising taxes. ...
• More allergies and other health risks. ...
• Food will be more expensive and variety may suffer. ...
• Water quality could suffer. 
• Outdoor exercise and recreational sports will become more difficult
•  Disruptions in travel

UNFCCC Rio Earth Summit, 1992 (UN Framework Convention of Climate Change)

What is the COP?
The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention. All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements. (click here for more)

COP1 Berlin 1995 (Conference of the Parties)

COP21 Paris Climate Summit 2015

COP26 Glasgow, England

One of the most famous COP summits have been the one in Paris  in 2015, COP21. Lot of countries came to a conclusion, US and China joined hands. The world took a decision to control the global temperature rise to within 1.5 deg C. Even at COP 26, the countries have all been saying about controlling the global temperature rise.

COP26 climate summit - The basics

• Climate change is one of the world's most pressing problems. Governments must promise more ambitious cuts in warming gases if we are to prevent greater global temperature rises.
  
  
  
  
  
• The summit in Glasgow is where change could happen. You need to watch for the promises made by the world's biggest polluters, like the US and China, and whether poorer countries are getting the support they need.
• All our lives will change. Decisions made here could impact our jobs, how we heat our homes, what we eat and how we travel.

In the role play we had in the class, the class of 10 was divided into 3 blocs, China - the largest polluter in the world, US - the highest per capita annual polluter of 27 T and second largest global polluter and India - world's third largest polluter, with each country trying to speak about their commitment to contain the temp change due to global climate change to within 1.5 deg C by 2050. 

 

The role play also ended by enacting the COP26 failure as India and China were not ready to restrict usage of coal as primary energy source and the shifting of near-zero country Carbon commitment of China to 2060 AD and of India to 2070 AD, while US stuck to its promise of 2050 AD for net zero Carbon commitment.  

 

The focus on extreme global weather events was missing in COP26.

 

Lot of learning, it made all students understand about the dangers of climate change and form an informed opinion of their stand on the global climate crisis.

George