Dear MEL Topic Readers,
UN climate talks fail to secure new fossil fuel promises
Conference of the Parties (COP) is the annual United Nations meeting to
discuss and, if possible, make decisions on climate change. The first
conference, COP1, took place in Berlin in 1995, and COP21 in 2015 set the
landmark Paris Agreement to limit global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius,
preferably to 1.5, compared to pre-industrial levels. The 30th COP was
held in Belém, Brazil, the gateway town to the Amazon River, from November 10 to
22. It was attended by 194 delegations, but not the second-largest emitter of greenhouse
gases, the USA. After the 12-hour overnight negotiation, a boosted financial
package and acceleration in implementing the Paris Agreement were agreed at the
conference, but no specific goal was set to move away from fossil fuels due to resistance
from oil-producing nations. The hosting country, Brazil, was even criticized for
its own projects to expand oil production near the mouth of the Amazon River. The
next COP will be hosted by Turkey next year, and the pre-COP will be hosted in
a Pacific island country supported by Australia. Globally, ice sheets and glaciers
are melting faster, sea levels are rising, extreme weather events are
increasing, yet more greenhouse gases are being emitted. Will there be a more
serious climate at the next COP?
Read the article and learn about the climate summit that ended with no
action plan or goal.
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