We examine India's agenda at COP26 Glasgow 2021 climate change conference, what it hopes to achieve and what are the challenges. The fate of humanity arguably depends on the outcome of COP26


The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, better known as COP26, began in the United Kingdom yesterday. Hosted in Glasgow, the summit will conclude on 12th November.

Now, before we get into the details, let's clear something up: what exactly is a COP?

These conferences are organised under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, an international treaty agreed to in 1992. It came into force in 1994.

COP is a summit where the 197 signatories to the UNFCCC come together to decide how to implement the treaty. At present, the signatories include 196 countries and the EU.

Now, let's talk about the latest summit.

Several leaders have described COP26 as a "make or break" deal for the planet. And, its stated goals back up such a description.

COP26 will seek to finalise the 'Paris Rulebook', the rules needed to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate.

As such, the delegates will try to find a solution regarding carbon markets. The aim being to create a robust system of carbon credits that supports the transition to net zero. Countries are also being asked to come forward with ambitious 2030 emission-reduction targets that align with reaching net zero by the middle of the century.

The crucial context here is that the Paris Agreement's central aim is to keep global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

So, now that we know what COP26 is all about, the question that arises is, what is India's agenda at the summit?

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