Editorial Ta Nea: COP26 and saving the planet

Six years have gone by since the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Yet, everyone agrees that the COP26 international climate change conference that began yesterday in Glasgow is the last chance to save the planet, because after the Paris Agreement no one did what is needed.

Its number one objective is to limit the temperature rise in order to avert the destruction of life as we know it.

Naturally, almost everyone agrees that we are at a critical juncture and in word they convey a sense of urgency, but the results of COP26 are considered uncertain.

Even the president of the conference, Alok Sharma, said that it will be a very big challenge as 200 countries must agree on extremely difficult issues.

The burden on leaders who are participating is great. They have a duty to commit themselves to more ambitious targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. They are also called upon to fund actions regarding the climate, both in developed and in developing countries.

They must discuss measures that they will take in order to adjust to the new realities of the impact of climate change – to grapple with repercussions that as we have seen over the past year are unavoidable.

The climate was never a hot issue. Today, however, it has become an issue of survival.

None of the participants in COP26 have the right to ignore that.