 |
| credit: Weyant, Boston Globe |
Activist Greta Thornberg labeled COP 26 a failure. US Person would have to agree with her since no major agreements were reached to significantly reduce global warming immediately. In fact in the waning days of the conference, a potential agreement to completely divest the planet of coal burning, the delegates retreated from that language. Current commitments to reduce fossil fuel use will result in a global temperature rise of 2.4C experts say, well beyond the Paris Accord goal of limiting the rise to 1.5C Heating has already reached 1.1C; a forty-five percent reduction in emissions must occur by 2030 for the planet to within that limit. One positive development: the draft conference document contains a provision for countries to reconvene next year instead of 2026 to update their nationally determined commitments (NDCs). So, after two weeks of largely verbal posturing, the delegations will fire up their private jets that spew tons of hydrocarbons into the upper atmosphere and go home. The rest of us will just have to put up with the droughts, wildfires, storms and rising sea levels.
 |
| credit: B. Day; Wackydoodle sez: Elon has a seat he would like to sell you. |