Page 4 - Respond 2022 Magazine

Paris promised,

Glasgow must deliver

The world must honour the promises made in Paris Since it was signed, the world
has not done enough. Emissions
six years ago. That ultimately, rests with world have continued to rise and the
leaders; success, or failure, of COP26 is in their Intergovernmental Panel on
hands. And so is the fate of the Paris Agreement. Climate Change has issued a
code red for the climate, stating
that unless we act immediately,
the 1.5-degree limit will slip out of
reach. Already temperatures have
risen at least 1.1 degrees above
pre-industrial levels. Extreme
weather is on the march around
the world: this summer we have
seen devastating flooding in
central Europe and China, raging
wildfires in North America, record
temperatures across the globe
and what some have called the
world’s first climate-induced
famine in Madagascar.

At 1.1 degrees warming the effects
are already alarming and every fraction
of a degree makes a difference. At 1.5
degrees warming 700 million people
would be at risk of extreme heat waves,
at 2 degrees it would be 2 billion, at 1.5
degrees 70 per cent of the world’s coral
reefs die, at 2 degrees they are all gone.
Countries on the front-line of climate
change fought hard for the 1.5 degree
temperature limit to be enshrined in the
" Responsibility rests with alive is not a hollow slogan, it is a matter
Paris Agreement. For them, 1.5 to stay
of survival. And it is why I have always
been clear that, in Glasgow, the world
each and every country.
must deliver an outcome which keeps
And we must all play 1.5 degrees in reach. To achieve this, I
have been asking countries to deliver
on four key goals: emissions reductions,
our part. Because on adaptation, finance and working together,
climate, the world will including to make the negotiations in
Glasgow a success. In all of these areas,
succeed, or fail as one. " working with partners around the world,
we have made progress. But on each of
them, critically, we have further to go. And
leaders must deliver.

On emissions reductions, many climate
vulnerable countries are leading the
way. From Bhutan and Suriname which
have already achieved net zero, to
the small island developing state of
Barbados, which will be fossil fuel free
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