26th Conference of Parties                                  

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Context: The UK will host the COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference from October 31 to November 12. It is a pivotal movement for the world to come together and accelerate the climate action plan.

Formation of COP

• The Conference of Parties comes under the United Nations Climate Change Framework Convention (UNFCCC) which was formed in 1994.
• The UNFCCC was established to work towards “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.”
• It laid out a list of responsibilities for the member states which included:
• Formulating measures to mitigate climate change
• Cooperating in preparing for adaptation to the impact of climate change
• Promoting education, training and public awareness related to climate change

COP1 to COP25

• COP members have been meeting every year since 1995.
• The UNFCCC has 198 parties including India, China and the USA.
• The first conference (COP1) was held in 1995 in Berlin.
• At COP3 held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, the famous Kyoto Protocol was adopted. It commits the member states to pursue limitation or reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. It entered into force on 16 February 2005 and there are 192 Parties in the Kyoto Protocol.
• India hosted the eighth COP in 2002 at New Delhi.
• One of the most important conferences, COP21 took place in Paris, France, where member countries agreed to work together to ‘limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.’

COP26 goals

According to the UNFCCC, COP26 will work towards four goals:

1. 1. Secure global net-zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach

What India could do to reach its targets?

• It is time for India to update its Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs. (NDCs detail the various efforts taken by each country to reduce the national emissions)
• Sector by sector plans are needed to bring about development. We need to decarbonise the electricity, transport sector and start looking at carbon per passenger mile.
• Aggressively figure out how to transition our coal sector

2. Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats
3. Mobilize finance
4. Work together to deliver

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/cop26-climate-conference-and-why-it-is-important-7574493/