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What’s the deal with COP26?

What's the deal with COP26?

What was COP26?

What is COP26? COP26 is the 26th annual Conference of Parties, a meeting for world leaders to discuss how to combat climate change. They first met in 1994 and in 2015 the COP established the Paris Agreement which was aimed to keep global warming to 1.5 C. This year's focus was on how to keep that goal alive.

COP26 was the 26th annual meeting of countries to address climate change. The countries that have been attending since the 1994 UN summit on climate change are called “The Conference of Parties.” Sounds fancy. The focus of this year’s event was to keep and strengthen promises made during the Paris Agreement back in 2015 and to figure out how to keep global warming to only 1.5 degrees.

What did we agree to?

What did we agree to do? The full agreement is called the Glasgow Climate Pact. Here are some highlights: We pledged $8bn to help developing countries use clean energy. We agreed to cut our methane emissions by 30%. We agreed to work with China to reduce our carbon emissions.

The full agreement is outlined in the Glasgow Climate Pact but it is DENSE. Here are some key takeaways that the U.S. agreed to and a few that we didn’t…

We agreed to:

  • The US pledged an additional $8billion to help developing countries use clean energy.
  • End deforestation (the use of forests for lumber and other goods) by 2030.
  • Joined the “Just Energy Transition Partnership” to support South Africa’s transition to clean energy away from coal.
  • To work with China to reduce our carbon emissions.
  • Reduce our methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
What parts of the pact didn't we sign? The U.S. declined to sign some key parts of the pact. We did not agree to "phase out" the use of coal, but we did agree to phasing it down. We did not agree to have all new car sales yielding net zero emissions by 2030.

Here are some parts of the pact we didn’t agree to:

  • We refused to sign the pledge to phase out coal use in the 2030s but we did agree to “phase down” coal use.
  • We did not agree to work toward all new car sales having zero net emissions by 2030.

Are there any consequences for breaking the agreement?

Are there any consequences for breaking the agreement? No. This is a U.N. agreement so there is no way to actually enforce any of these initiatives. It is not law, just a promise. Even though it's not binding signing it does set the tone and the agenda for how we will deal with climate change in the coming years.

This is a U.N. agreement so there is no way to actually enforce any of these initiatives. It is not law, just a promise.

If it’s not a binding agreement why bother to sign it?

The Glasgow Climate Pact sets the tone and the agenda for how countries plan to tackle climate change.

Does an agreement like this override U.S. sovereignty?

Does the agreement override U.S. sovereignty? A: No. Even though President Biden signed the climate pact, it still needs to be ratified by a 2/3rds majority of the Senate. In the past ratifying treaties and agreements has been a hard task. Right now we have 45 treaties dating back from 1949 still waiting for ratification.

No. While the President does have the power to negotiate and sign treaties on behalf of the United States, all treaties and agreements need to be approved by the U.S. Senate before they become law. 

The Senate requires a 2/3rds majority vote to approve a treaty or any agreement. Usually this is pretty hard due to partisanship in the senate.

There are currently 45 treaties and agreements waiting to be ratified dating back as far as 1949.

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