The COP comes under the United Nations Climate Change Framework Convention (UNFCCC) which was formed in 1994. According to it, the members are to work towards stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere and also promote education, training and public awareness related to climate change. Since 1995, the members of COP have been meeting every year. The first conference was held in 1995 Berlin and it was COP3 which was held in Japan in 1997 from which the Kyoto Protocol was adopted. One of the most important conferences under COP is the COP21 held in Paris in 2015. It was during this event, the member to work together as well as individually to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius.
The United Kingdom will be hosting the Climate Change Conference this year from 31st October to 12th November at Glasgow’s Scottish event campus. The year 2021 marks the 26th Conference of Parties that is why it has been named the COP26. The event will be attended by more than 190 countries. Thousands of negotiators, researchers and citizens will come together to fight climate change and accelerate the climate action plan. This conference holds all the more important in light of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC’s assessment report that came a few months back. It had pointed out the possibility of droughts, extreme rainfall, rising sea levels and heat waves that the Earth will experience in the coming decades due to the increase in temperature of the earth. At the COP26, four goals will be aimed upon to be worked towards. These are:
- To achieve global net-zero by the middle of the century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach.
- The member states to adapt to protect communities as well as natural habitats from the impact of climate change.
- Mobilisation of finances
- The member states to work together so that they list out the rules in detail that would help in the fulfilment of the Paris agreement.
India has hosted the eighth COP back in 2002 from October 23 to November 1in New Delhi. The conference laid out seven measures including, strengthening of technology transfer in all relevant sectors, including energy, transport, the promotion of technological advances through research and development and the strengthening of institutions for sustainable development. India’s role is hugely important as its been playing an active role in the fight against climate change and contributing more to it through major projects like International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). It is through projects like these that has put India on a global platform as a key player and the country has been appreciated for the efforts and contribution into the same. India’s participation in the conference will present the framework it has been working on to fight climate change and how it will help to save the planet.