“Breathing Life Into The Lungs Of Our Planet”
Today, over 100 world leaders have signed the pledge to end deforestation by 2030, representing more than 85% of the forests on the planet. Boris Johnson, to convince those who have yet to sign the pledge, highlights the importance of this promise, explaining “climate change and biodiversity are 2 sides of the same coin, if we want to keep the 1.5°C of global warming goal in sight, we must restore nature and biodiversity.” The pledge includes £14 billion of funds which will support indigenous communities and developing countries in restoring damaged land. Many countries have also committed to removing agricultural products, like soya and palm oil, which if continued to be harvested would drive forest loss further.
Following this announcement, Jeffrey Bezos pledged $2 billion to restoring landscapes. He explained that he had grasped nature’s fragility when he went to space and has hope that our affects can be reversed, “in this critical year and what we all know is the decisive decade, we must all stand together to protect our world.” This restoration could lead to a significant improvement of soil fertility, which will raise yields to increase food security, in addition to boosting economic growth and sequestering carbon.
Despite the hope established by these well-funded propositions, many obstacles are still to be met. A similar pledge was released in 2014, but since then the rate of deforestation has only increased. Antonia Guterres conveyed his concerns, fearing that “political divisions will prevent progress,” which is what resulted in the failure of the Amazon fund in 2019, as Norway suspended the fund due to a disagreement with Brazil’s President.
Later in the day, the US President Joe Biden and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, announced the launch of the Global Methane pledge, which has been in the works since September. The goal is to cut emissions of methane by 30% by 2030, which involves preventing methane leaks from oil and gas wells, as well as creating strategic initiatives with farmers to reduce methane. Methane is responsible for a third of the current global warming issues generated by human activities and around 20% of total global emissions. The greenhouse gas has a twenty-five times more powerful warming effect in the atmosphere than a CO2 molecule, so although CO2 lingers in the atmosphere, methane has more a damaging effect. Since September more than 80 countries have signed up for this pledge, which currently covers half of methane emissions, resulting in a total of 70% of the global GDP.
A primary goal of COP26 is to get countries to commit to achieving net zero by 2050, however many countries are not on target. China has announced plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, whilst India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a pledge to cut emissions to net zero by 2070 and although this is 20 years from the initial goal, it is the first time in history that India has set a net zero target. With India being the fourth country with the greatest emissions of carbon dioxide, it is reassuring to see the largest contributors to global warming taking responsibility for their actions. Although, several of the major emitters, like China, Russia and India have not yet joined the Global Methane Pledge.
During the leaders’ event, discussing accelerating clean technology, innovation and deployment, a global plan to boost green technology has been introduced by Boris Johnson, known as the ‘breakthrough agenda’ and has been signed by 40 world leaders. “The Glasgow breakthroughs will turbocharge this forward, so that by 2030 clean technologies can be enjoyed everywhere, not only reducing emissions, but also creating more jobs and greater prosperity.” The sectors covered by the plan are steel, road transport, agriculture, power and hydrogen. Speeches were made by the presidents of the US, Kenya, Morocco and Namibia who are all supporting the breakthrough, as well as demonstrating considerable progress in advancing breakthroughs. Following this discussion, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, launched the EU catalyst program with Bill Gates, aiming to bring down costs for ‘green’ hydrogen, direct air capture of CO2, and long duration energy storage, “the global race for net zero is on and there is no better race to win.”
Written and edited by Sophia Axon and Jasmine Ayres
