ANYARE?: What's the deal with 'COP26'?
MANILA, Philippines — Global warming and climate change have always been a major concern as rising sea levels, temperatures and intense tropical cyclones pose a threat to vulnerable countries — all while the world keeps up with the demands of rapid industrialization and urbanization.
In the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), over 197 countries agreed on a new deal called "Glasgow Climate Pact" to tame the devastating effects of climate change.
Part of its goals is limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C and curbing greenhouse gas emissions to further avoid catastrophes.
However, environmental activists here and abroad were left dissappointed even with this pact. But why?
What exactly are "climate finance" and "climate justice"? How could the aforementioned help poor and developing nations like the Philippines who bear the brunt of mother nature's wrath?
Is there really something we could do about the situation?
Tonight, we ask: Anyare?
Join Gaea Katreena Cabico of Philstar.com in her COP26 coverage in Glasgow, Scotland as she delves deeper into the topic together with Atty. Vicente Yu III, negotiator for G77 and China group of developing countries.
Catch the 12th episode of Anyare? tonight at 6 p.m. on Philstar.com’s Facebook and YouTube accounts.
Bookmark this page for updates on the United Nations climate summit, known as COP26. Photo courtesy of AFP/Tolga Akmen
Singapore announces it aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, giving a firm date for the first time, and will look at using hydrogen as a major power source.
The city-state targets for carbon emissions to peak in 2030 at 60 million tonnes, a reduction of five million tonnes from the previous goal, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said.
The Southeast Asian nation also has plans to look at developing low carbon hydrogen as a major power supply in the long term. — AFP
Australia will present a more ambitious UN emissions target "very soon" and is bidding to co-host a COP summit with Pacific island neighbours, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Thursday, signalling a ground shift in climate policy.
During a first solo overseas visit since her centre-left government was sworn in, Wong admitted that on the climate, "Australia has neglected its responsibility" under past administrations.
She told hosts in Fiji's capital Suva that there would be no more "disrespecting" Pacific nations or "ignoring" their calls to act on climate change.
"We were elected on a platform of reducing emissions by 43 percent by 2030 and reaching net-zero by 2050," Wong said. — AFP
Countries have proposed to hold an extra biodiversity meeting in Nairobi in June as talks in Geneva tasked with saving nature entered their final day Tuesday without an agreement.
In a document uploaded on the conference website, dated Monday, countries suggest holding a new meeting in the Kenyan capital between June 21 and 26 to "continue negotiations" on the document and other issues.
The decision is subject to official approval by the Geneva meeting before it wraps up later Tuesday. — AFP
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday hails a global accord to speed up action against climate change as "truly historic" and "the beginning of the end for coal power".
But he says his "delight at this progress" at the UN COP26 summit in Glasgow was "tinged with disappointment" because of a failure to secure the agreement of all countries to phase out hydrocarbons.
"Those for whom climate change is already a matter of life and death, who can only stand by as their islands are submerged, their farmland turned to desert, their homes battered by storms, they demanded a high level of ambition from this summit," says Johnson. — AFP
A UN climate summit text on Saturday urges nations to accelerate the phase-out of unfiltered coal and "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies, after large emitters tried to remove the mention of polluting fuels.
The text, which comes after two weeks of frantic negotiations at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, omitted any reference to specific finance for "loss and damage" -- the mounting cost of global heating so far -- which has been a key demand of poorer nations.
The mention on Saturday of fossil fuels was weaker than a previous draft, which called on countries to "accelerate the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels". — AFP
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