COP26 commitments could reduce global warming to 1.8C, says energy agency

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), says climate pledges at COP26 could keep the world’s rising temperatures within 1.8 degrees Celsius.

Climate experts have called for global warming to be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2040 as part of efforts to address the effects of climate change such as flooding, drought, wildfires, among others.

Speaking on Thursday on the highlights of the world energy outlook at the climate change conference, Birol said despite the pessimism ahead of the COP26 talks, a “big step forward” was possible if all the pledges set out to date were “fully achieved”.

According to him, commitments by global governments to achieve net zero emissions and limit global methane emissions, if fully achieved, could slash global heating predictions from a rise of 2.7C set out before COP26.

“In the last few days we heard several pledges and commitments from countries in terms of their net zero emissions,” he said.

“Some of them are with a longer term horizon. We also heard more than 100 countries pledge to reduce their methane emissions.

“If all the pledges on carbon neutrality and in methane pledges were to be fully implemented, we would have a temperature increase trajectory which is 1.8 degrees Celsius.

“This is excellent. I must congratulate those countries and the persons who made those countries make those commitments.”

He, however, encouraged COP26 leadership to track and monitor “who says what and who does what” even after the conference to ensure that countries deliver on their promises.