COP26: Who are the leading countries in the fight against climate change?

COP26: Who are the leading countries in the fight against climate change?

Climate change is the greatest global hazard of the 21st century. This century has seen alarming levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, triggering the hottest years ever documented and record-breaking forest fires, droughts, and floods. High CO2 levels are catastrophic for humans, the environment, and wildlife; the gas disrupts the fragile balance that create the perfect conditions for life.   

If we continue to burn fossil fuels at the current rate and conjure such frightening levels of CO2, the consequences will spiral out of control. We need to tackle global warming as a matter of urgency. The biggest carbon emitters around the world need to take responsibility for their livelihoods and recognise the destruction of their actions; this will help support developing nations who are being hit the hardest. 

We can only fight climate change by fighting together.  

This is why COP26 is critical.  

What is COP26? 

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is an annual meeting attended globally by nations who signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 2021 will be the 26th conference – hosted in Glasgow on 31 October to 12 November – hence why it is called COP26.  

Each conference aims to specify ways to achieve global net zero carbon emissions by 2050, encourage greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2030, and ultimately keep global warming limited to 1.5°C. Countries submit their own national plan under this agreement, involving strategies such as cutting fossil fuels and opting for renewable energy sources, replacing fuel or diesel vehicles with electrically powered transport, and implementing ways to restore ecosystems.  

However, unfortunately, not all countries are on target to achieve their ambitions.  

The goals declared in the Paris Agreement – the legally binding contract created in COP21 in 2015 – will still result in warming above 3°C by 2100: more than double the safety limit. And that is if these objectives are achieved. So far, most countries are not on track to hit their Paris Agreement pledges, meaning levels of warming higher than predicted will be inevitable.   

Although, some countries’ goals are compatible with the 1.5°C limit, and they are on track to achieve them.  

Morocco and The Gambia – two developing nations on Africa’s Atlantic Coast – have committed to targets significant enough to largely reduce their carbon emissions and drag down their levels of warming. These developing nations in one of the poorest regions of the world are making impressive efforts to fix the damage amplified by richer countries. If current emissions are anything to go by, hardly any of the main carbon emitters are taking enough action to fight climate change and support the developing countries who are suffering the most. It highlights the inequality of the climate crisis.  

Morocco  

Morocco has introduced the National Energy Strategy to encourage the move from carbon-inducing fossil fuels and invest in more renewable energy, with dedicated plans for wind and solar energy. The country aims to generate 52% of its electricity from renewables by 2030; it is already at 35%. 

The country also has the largest concentrated solar farm in the world. The Noor Ouarzazate Solar Complex conjures enough energy to power two cities the size of Marrakesh. It consists of Noor Ouarzazate I, II and III power plants, with Noor I offsetting 280,000 annual tonnes of carbon dioxide.  

The Gambia  

The small country has launched the Ecosystem-based Adaptation Project to reforest up to 10,000 hectares of mangroves, savannas, and deforested land, as well as up to 3,000 hectares of abandoned agricultural land. The government are also promoting the use of efficient cookers to reduce the use of forest resources. This will help increase climate resilience for rural Gambian communities.  

The Gambia is also prioritising green energy and in 2018, the World Bank funded a solar photovoltaic power plant.  

Despite the country’s lack of funding, their government has set clear objectives to reduce carbon emissions by 2030, putting richer, more polluting countries’ lack of effort to shame.  

What does the future hold?  

Without action, carbon emissions will sky-rocket, food and water will become scarcer, the economy will drop, and poorer countries will feel the effects the most.  

As two low-lying, coastal, developing nations, Morocco and The Gambia are among the most vulnerable to climate change, yet they are among the most efficient in their carbon reduction strategies. They need the support of other countries and individuals to push with them; this will not only benefit the developing nations of the world, but the global population.  

Hopefully, COP26 will see more nations pushing for stricter carbon emission regulations, more nations committing to their written pledges, and more nations fighting together in the global battle against climate change. Only then can our planet thrive once more.