The UN Climate Change Conference, held between 31 October and 13 November 2021 in Glasgow, U.K., closed with a series of decisions, including a pact to keep the 1.5 °C goal alive, and renewed commitments from leaders around the world to tackle the climate emergency. The ambition of GHG emission reduction declared by countries fell short of recommendations by experts, but the inclusion of phase down in language on coal and fossil fuels was important progress.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group I report published in August 2021, the remaining Carbon Budget to limit global warming to 1.5 °C with a 67% likelihood of success is 400Gt CO2 and 500Gt CO2 with a 50% likelihood. With yearly total emissions averaging around 40Gt CO2, the stabilisation of the climate will require strong, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, moving towards reaching net zero CO2 emissions around 2050. In order to stay below 1.5°C warming, a recent report, ‘10 New Insights in Climate Science 2021’, points out that it is required that annual global emissions reductions average 2 GtCO2 per year and stringent reductions in emissions of non-CO2 greenhouse gases.

Among the many agreements made during the Glasgow session, IPSI members and readers of the newsletter may be particularly interested in seeing the reference to nature and ecosystems in paragraph 38 of the Glasgow Climate Pact, which says that the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement:  

“Emphasizes the importance of protecting, conserving and restoring nature and ecosystems to achieve the Paris Agreement temperature goal, including through forests and other terrestrial and marine ecosystems acting as sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases and by protecting biodiversity, while ensuring social and environmental safeguards.”

The Glasgow Climate Pact recognises the importance of nature and ecosystems services to achieve the long-term global goal under the Convention and the global goals under the Paris Agreement. The text also tried to balance out interventions from Parties requesting to include explicit references to nature-based solutions (NbS) and other Parties expressing concern that the term is not yet ready to be agreed upon. Some discussions by experts on NbS in Glasgow have also highlighted that its use can provide multiple benefits to climate, biodiversity conservation and socio-economic development, but it must not replace or delay decarbonization efforts. Investments in NbS must protect biodiversity, enhance resilience to climate change and strengthen the ability of ecosystems to act as long-term carbon sinks while maintaining the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.