COP26, 11 November 2021
The Energy Transitions Commission’s Chair, Lord Adair Turner, welcomes the draft COP cover decisions on mitigation as an essential step towards keeping the possibility of a 1.5°C limit alive.
“The draft COP26 cover decision’s section on Mitigation makes a strong statement for the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
It stresses that this requires an emissions reduction of 45% by 2030 (vs. 2010), versus our current path towards a 13% rise. This means that CO2 emissions must be halved by 2030, compared to the business as usual levels, with parallel progress on non-CO2 gases such as methane. As the text recognises, current NDCs fall far short of what is required to deliver this objective. At the ETC we have identified actions to go beyond NDCs, and some of the country and company commitments at COP26 so far recognise this potential.
The text therefore calls for countries to produce updated NDCs with strengthened targets for emission reductions by 2030 to be developed by the end of 2022.
This is exactly what is required to build on the commitments which have been made at COP26 by coalitions of countries and companies, which if implemented would begin to take us towards a 1.5°C aligned pathway.
The ETC urges all countries to support this essential step towards limiting global warming to manageable levels.”
Media contact: Caroline Randle, Energy Transitions Commission [email protected]