With world leaders arriving in Glasgow for the fortnight-long COP26 conference, more than 190 countries are coming together to discuss the global response to the climate crisis. The Glasgow summit is important in determining whether these countries can comply with the Paris Agreement: a legally-binding international treaty on climate change enforced in 2016.
The goal outlined was to limit global warming to well below 2 – preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius – compared to pre-industrial levels. Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius could help to avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change.
The ambition to reduce global warming and gain support for the 1.5 degrees Celsius target follows a succession of climate disasters including heat waves, floods, and wildfires across the globe. This also follows the International Panel on Climate Change report, recently published in August, warning that the global temperature may pass 1.5 degrees Celsius warming as soon as 2040, even if emissions fall rapidly.
Other top priorities of the COP include the formal negotiations which will finalise and accelerate actions following the goals outlined by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.
Priorities also include structures for a global carbon market, and the question of whether countries should set new climate targets every five years, or every ten years. The COP acts as an opportunity for new pacts and agreements – this year with ambitions to end coal use and bring in more electric vehicles.
In light of the announcement that UK firms and financial institutions will be forced to show how they intend to hit climate change targets. By 2023, UK businesses will have to set out detailed public and transparent plans on how they will work towards a low-carbon future in line with the UK’s 2050 net-zero target.
Circularr is here to help and was born out of a need to provide transparency and traceability to legitimise sustainability claims and eliminate greenwashing by individuals and organisations.
At Circularr, we are working with businesses to achieve one common goal – to decrease the level of plastic pollution and provide full transparency and traceability for the ethical and sustainable recycling and manufacturing of plastic.
It is clear that the decisions made at the COP26 will make a lasting impact and major changes towards our daily lives: including our jobs, our homes, what we eat, and how we travel. We all have a part to play in tackling climate change, and here at Circularr we are dedicated to helping individuals and organisations make a real (and traceable) difference.