It’s a new year, which means new year resolutions. We are now one year into the ‘decade of action’ to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, however, more than ever, 2021 is being named the ‘turning point’ in climate change history. But why 2021, and not any other year before or after that?
It’s a new year, which means new year resolutions. We are now one year into the ‘decade of action’ to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, however, more than ever, 2021 is being named the ‘turning point’ in climate change history. But why 2021, and not any other year before or after that?
One of the main events is the hugely important climate change conference, COP26, due to take place in November 2021, where world leaders will gather in Glasgow, discussing action plans, and ‘accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’, pledged by the UK. However, research has shown that the target of keeping temperature rise to 1.5C has been completely missed, with the world expecting to hit 3C at the end of the century- more than double the aim. In addition, the climate action tracker has already identified a 1.1C warming of the globe, just 5 years after the Paris agreement. Not only have countries not committed to their targets, but their targets were also not ambitious enough. Currently, only 2 countries are delivering their goals- The Gambia and Morocco, but that’s only 2 out of the 197 countries who attended the conference.
Nonetheless, there has been significant action being taken across the world. Multiple countries are already signing up to deep carbon cuts, such as China, who announced their surprising aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2060. The UK has promised to ‘build back better’ and make a green recovery, with Boris Johnson’s aim of cutting emissions by 68% by 2030. Other countries have followed suit, and the UN estimates that 110 have set a new net-zero target by mid-century. As well as this, the new US president Joe Biden has set out plans for the US to re-join the Paris climate accord, which changes current projections as the US is one of the biggest polluters globally.
The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere hit record levels in 2020, a stark reminder of how urgent the climate crisis is. Carbon emissions dropped momentarily due to the pandemic in 2020, showing how changes in lifestyle can drastically change our carbon footprint. Despite 2021 being projected to be cooler, it will still be part of the top six warmest years. The effects of climate change are spreading rapidly around the world, affecting more people and animals every day. Millions of people have experienced droughts, floods and extreme heatwaves, and a recent report has estimated that around a million species are at risk of extinction. In the long-term, conflict over a lack of resources, mass extinction, declining health is just some of the many projected effects if further and more ambitious action is not taken.
On a more extreme and drastic scale, if targets don’t become more ambitious and countries still don’t deliver, human survival will become threatened, and biodiversity loss will be one of the top threats to the global economy.
What needs to happen:
The UN has warned countries are adapting too slowly to the climate breakdown. Change needs to happen now and the climate crisis needs to be more actively addressed in everyone’s lives.