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What was the goal of the Cop26 climate summit?
The 196-nation summit in Glasgow aimed to keep alive the commitment to keep global warming at 1.5C, compared with pre-industrial levels, set in Paris six years ago.
So is 1.5C still alive?
Yes. Just. As Cop president Alok Sharma said in his closing remarks: ‘I think today we can say with credibility that we’ve kept 1.5 within reach.’ But the pledges on the table at Cop26 mean global warming could rise to 2.4C, although more optimistic readings put it as low as 1.8C. The Glasgow Climate Pact asks governments to strengthen those pledges next year. But even 1.5C is still an unsafe level of global warming – with scientists estimating that around 70 per cent of the world’s coral reefs will die if the Earth warms this much.
For the first time, the pact asks countries to ‘phase down’ coal – signalling the beginning of the end for coal power, the biggest source of
