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COP26 breakthrough 'not easy but worth it'

By EARLE GALE in London | China Daily Global | Updated: 2021-10-25 09:29

People take part in a Climate March in Brussels, Belgium, ahead of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Oct 10, 2021. [Photo/Agencies] 

Details of Paris Agreement need to be ironed out at UN's summit in Glasgow

It will be more difficult to reach a climate-change deal at the United Nations' COP26 summit than it was finding consensus for the 2015 Paris Agreement, said the man in charge of the gathering that starts on Oct 31.

Alok Sharma, the United Kingdom Cabinet minister who is also president of COP26, told The Guardian newspaper he is under no illusions about the size of the task ahead.

"What we're trying to do here in Glasgow is actually really tough," he told the paper. "It was brilliant what they did in Paris, it was a framework agreement, (but) a lot of the detailed rules were left for the future."

He said, with details now needing ironing out, the gathering of 200 nations and territories, which concludes on Nov 12, is global crunch-time.

"It's like, we've got to the end of the exam paper and the most difficult questions are left and you're running out of time; the exam's over in half an hour and you go, 'How are we going to answer this one?'" he said.

National leaders and negotiating teams will be trying to find ways to limit the emission of greenhouse gases, to ensure global temperature rises do not exceed 1.5 C more than pre-industrial levels.

Most greenhouse gases are attributed to the burning of fossil fuels, so finding ways to limit that will be a major part of the talks. But, with nations consuming more fossil fuels today than ever, and with less-developed countries pointing out that developed nations may want to compensate them for forgoing their industrial revolutions, there will likely be much compromising.

"This is definitely harder than Paris on lots of levels," Sharma told The Guardian. " (But) what we have going for us is that there is an understanding that we need to deal with this."

The UK published its road map to reducing its carbon footprint last week. Its net-zero strategy calls for $90 billion of mainly private-sector investment to be directed at its environmental initiatives.

With Sharma highlighting the difficulty of the task ahead, high-profile climate activist Greta Thunberg told the BBC people should not pin all their hopes on governments improving the situation.

"The change is going to come when people are demanding change," she said. "So, we can't expect everything to happen at these conferences."

She said she will attend the COP26 summit, where the most important commodity will be the truth.

"Be honest about where you are, how you have been failing, how you're still failing us," she said.

She added committing to producing less carbon will not be enough, if countries then "look for loopholes".

With world leaders, senior politicians, and officials heading for Glasgow, Scotland's Daily Record newspaper said the security services are monitoring "more than 800 potential terrorists" over fears they may target the event.

Former colonel Philip Ingram told the paper the gathering amounts to a "very ripe target "for terrorists, and one that means there is a "high potential" someone will try something.

MI5, the UK's counter-intelligence and security agency, said the UK terror threat level is currently "substantial".

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