by Erin Guo
COP26, also known as the U.N Climate Change Summit or the Conference of the Parties, held its 26th meeting this year in Scotland, where world leaders from almost all over the world met to solve issues surrounding climate change. Decisions made in this conference generally set what happens to the climate policy around the world in the future.
One of the bigger issues at hand was the role that fossil fuel emissions play in exacerbating global warming. The main culprit is coal, the biggest source of greenhouse gasses. During the conference, world leaders agreed to secure global net-zero by mid-century, limit global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius within the capacity, protect communities and natural habitats, mobilize finances, and rise together to face the crisis.
The Paris Agreement, which set legally binding obligations to regularly set national targets, was made in 2015 to take urgent measures to address climate change and to move away from and ultimately phase out the use of coal. To reinforce climate standards, COP26 ended with the creation of the Glasgow Climate Pact, which attacks fossil fuel emissions and makes wealthy countries more responsible for reducing emissions. The conference also resulted in inside deals such as the joint declaration by the U.S. and China, the world's two biggest carbon emitters, to cooperate on climate change measures.
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