Glasgow Climate Pact
Also called: COP26 Glasgow Pact · Topic: Climate Change: Causes, Evidence and the Global Response · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Glasgow Climate Pact is the main decision agreed at COP26, held in Glasgow, Scotland (UK), in 2021. A COP (Conference of the Parties) is the yearly meeting of the countries that signed the UN climate treaty. The Pact asked countries to phase down unabated coal, meaning coal burnt without capturing its carbon dioxide. It also asked them to end inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies, which are government payments that keep fuel prices low. Its best-known money promise was to double adaptation finance from 2019 levels by 2025. Adaptation finance is money that helps poor countries prepare for climate harm, for example by building flood defences or growing crops that survive heat.
Example
At first, the coal wording said "phase out", which means end completely. India and some other countries got it changed to "phase down", which means reduce over time. They argued that developing countries still need coal for growth. By 2025, UNEP's Adaptation Gap Report found that the promise to double adaptation finance was on track to be missed. International public adaptation money fell to US$26 billion in 2023.
Don't confuse with
- Paris Agreement: a treaty adopted at COP21 (2015) that sets the "well below 2 °C" goal. The Glasgow Climate Pact is a COP decision that builds on it. It is not a new treaty.
- Panchamrit: India's own five national pledges, also announced at COP26, such as net zero by 2070. These are not part of the joint text that all countries agreed.