COP24: Obstacles and Opportunities

Image from cop24.gov.pl/

At the time of writing this, the COP24 Climate Summit has just begun; the 24th conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). World leaders and negotiators come together on 3rd-14th December in Katowice, Poland, to secure agreements that will reduce and mitigate the effects of climate change. The main focus of those attending the summit is making sure the Paris Agreement will be successful.

Within hours of its launch, the conference is making headlines: David Attenborough, famed naturalist, delivered an impassioned speech.

This conference brings the growing urgency of climate change to the forefront: a recently published UN Environment Report found that if anthropogenic climate change continues at its current rate, the world will surpass 2C and reach levels of 3.2C before the end of the century.

Though every country has their part to play, the pressure is on the top 3 emitters, US, China and India, to make dramatic changes to their greenhouse gas emissions:

Image from BBC

China and India, the world's most populous countries, have shown signs of promise: China is set to host many of the prepatory meetings at COP24, and India is set to achieve its climate pledges a decade ahead of schedule. However, since this conference is seen as an extension of the Paris Agreement, which the US pulled out of, there are reasons to hold back some optimism.

As the conference proceeds, it will be interesting to see any future developments that may make a positive impact on climate action and long-standing issues (eg the rift between rich and poor countries) that may slow progress.

In the meantime, here's an interesting article from the BBC, which has a series of graphs visualising the extent of change humans have made to the earth's climate over the past century.

If you want news of the summit on the go, CNN is providing real time updates.