At the 2015 climate summit, the well-known Paris Agreement was signed, in which countries jointly agreed on the goal of keeping global warming below 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels and working to limit it to 1.5 degrees.
The plan was for countries to submit new strategies every five years for how to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. When the meeting, which was supposed to be 2020, was postponed due to the pandemic, it is instead time for countries to present their strategies this year.
Big challenges for the countries of the world
The biggest challenge world leaders need to face is how to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that has mainly contributed to global warming and industries are responsible for large portions of emissions.
However, reducing carbon dioxide emissions is a difficult task. In addition to the difficulties of finding an alternative energy source for fossil fuels, there are major economic interests behind the issue.
Another issue that will be high on the agenda during the summit is how much money rich countries, which can be largely blamed for climate change, should give to poor countries, which are by far the hardest hit by climate change.
Climate trade and climate offsets on the agenda
During the meeting, they will also try to sort out the details of the Paris Agreement that has yet to be fully resolved. Among other things, it is necessary to agree on the rules for trading in emissions rights and climate offsets. Emissions trading is about the ability of companies and countries to buy and sell emissions rights among themselves. Companies can also offset the climate by buying emissions rights for the same amount of emissions they have generated or paying for different projects such as tree planting that matches the emissions they have made.
During previous climate meetings, they also failed to introduce a system that would allow states to be held accountable if they did not achieve their climate goals. It remains to be seen if it succeeds during COP26.
Read more: New record levels for greenhouse gases
Read more: Headwinds before COP26: Expensive and bad mood
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