Conference After Conference, Pledge After Pledge But Hardly Any Movement On Climate In 2022
Last fall, at a high-profile global climate summit in Scotland, the countries of the world embraced what seemed like a significant commitment in the quest to combat climate change. Acknowledging that progress had been too slow, leaders agreed to “revisit and strengthen” their national climate targets if possible over the coming year — rather than waiting every five years, as envisioned under the 2015 Paris climate accord.
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But as the world prepares to reconvene in Egypt this month for COP27, the annual U.N. climate change conference, almost none of the globe’s biggest emitters have come forward with stronger commitments. Few nations overall have ramped up their ambition, despite another year of floods, fires and other climate-related catastrophes. “Disappointing,” is how Claire Fyson, co-head of the climate policy team at the nonprofit research group Climate Analytics, describes the lackluster reality. “Few governments have really done anything to substantially move the dial.”
According to the independent Climate Action Tracker, as of Thursday only 21 countries have submitted updated national climate commitments as leaders are set to gather at the summit, which starts Nov. 6 in Egypt — and not even all those newer plans contain more ambitious goals. Meanwhile, another 172 countries have not updated their targets, the group said. Only one large country so far has filed a plan that includes stronger, credible emissions-cutting commitments: Australia.
“But Australia came from a very, very low baseline,” said Niklas Höhne, a German climatologist who created the Climate Action Tracker. “They have a lot of catching up to do.”
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2022/climate-change-pledge-progress-cop27/?itid=sf_climate_article_list