Call for ’emergency pact’ by Vulnerable countries to avoid catastrophe

The countries most affected by severe climatic changes (vulnerable countries) call for an emergency pact to avoid catastrophe ahead of COP26, Glasgow. 

Climate Vulnerable Forum comprising 45 countries released a statement calling for assurances that COP26 will happen in person from October to November this year. 

Demands for this Emergency Pact are to rebuild confidence in international climate cooperation, accelerate adaptation and keep 1.5 degrees celsius within reach.

The Climate Vulnerable Forum consists of countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific that contains 1.26 Billion people.  

Global leaders will come up together in less than two weeks in Glasgow for COP26, the most important meeting on climate change since Paris.

Ahead of the Glasgow meeting, the Climate Vulnerable Forum has issued a manifesto for setting a plan to keep the planet safe and protect the most vulnerable.

Environmental groups have suggested postponing the meeting as the vaccine distribution is inequitable, and delegates from poorer countries will have difficulties paying quarantine hotels when they arrive in the UK. 

The UK government has taken this responsibility to pay the quarantine hotel expenses of any delegate, observer or media from a developing country.

The vulnerable group said that progress on climate change is slow, and COP26 should move forward with what it calls a “climate emergency pact”.

We will observe that every country changes their policy and make yearly climate change plans until 2025. 

The vulnerable nations ask richer countries to fulfil their obligations and promise to deliver $100bn in climate finance per year over the 2020-24 period.

According to CVF countries, this amount utilizes in the 50:50 model.

Half of the amount is to cut carbon expenses, and another half must help vulnerable climate countries posed by the threat of rising temperatures.

The countries ask the UK to “take full responsibility” for this aspect of the negotiations as they consider the role of the UK most important. 

The CVP also want to see progress on the question of debt-for-climate swaps. Many of the world’s poorest countries have significant debt burdens due to the adverse effects of Covid-19, which stretched finances even further.

Countries can transfer their debt to international creditors by paying debt service to fund renewable energy or more excellent natural protection in a debt-for-climate exchange. 

COP26, Glasgow

 COP stands for Conference of the Parties, and the summit includes countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – a treaty that came into force in 1994.

This year the UK is going to host the meet. The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021.

The Agenda for COP will be Securing global net-zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach, Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats, Mobilize financing, Work together to deliver.

The Paris Agreement was agreed upon at COP21 in 2015. For the first time, it saw almost every country around the world enter into a legally binding commitment to reduce emissions.

It was ‘top down’ in that every country policy to cut carbon emissions to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees, ideally to 1.5 degrees above preindustrial levels.

It was ‘bottom up’ in that it left room for each country to decide how they would get there. These were called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).  

The world is hoping for miraculous changes and shifts in countries policies to make our Earth young again.