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Add to Preferred SourcesUN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on every country to declare a “climate emergency”. The appeal was made at the UN virtual summit on December 12, which marked the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement. However, participating world leaders have so far offered varying levels of commitment.
The aim of the virtual summit was to revive the international fight against the climate crisis. Due to the corona pandemic, a major UN climate conference planned to take place in Glasgow, in 2020, has been postponed until the end of 2021 when each country is expected to submit new, more ambitious climate plans to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The Paris Agreement has recently been reinvigorated by the prospect of the US President-elect, Joe Biden, announcing that the US will rejoin the treaty as well as new commitments being made by Chinese President, Xi Jinping, who has pledged to target zero net emissions by 2060. The European Union has also undertaken to cut emissions by 55% by 2030 whilst, on the eve of the summit, the UK pledged to halt direct government support for overseas fossil fuel projects.
During the summit, for the most part, participating world leaders reiterated their earlier commitments or guaranteed to devise new plans to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions in the run-up to the Glasgow conference.
Fifteen countries including Argentina, Barbados, Colombia, Peru, and Iceland announced the substantial strengthening of their climate plans while others such as Germany, France, and India reaffirmed their support for the Paris goals. On the other hand, Japan and South Korea, countries with ambitious climate policies, remained silent regarding their support for fossil fuel energy. Meanwhile, other countries including Australia, Brazil, Russia, and Saudi Arabia were excluded from speaking at the summit as they have failed to propose strong commitments to achieving the Agreement’s goals.
The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 parties in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2 (preferably to 1.5) degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.