The issue of climate change has become one of the most important problems our world has ever grappled with. The work initiated under the leadership of the UN in the 1990s in the fight against climate change continues with more concrete steps now.
To date, 26 Conferences of the Parties on Climate Change (COP) have been held under the leadership of the UN, and an important roadmap has been drafted to set concrete targets and achieve them thanks to these conferences.
We can call the coming period as one of implementation of the mandatory changes that must be taken to overcome the problems caused by climate change.
SO WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IN THE PAST TO CURB CLIMATE CHANGE?
The UN Climate Change Framework Convention, which was opened for signatures at the United Nations (UN) Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, is the first and most important step taken in the international arena.
In addition to 196 countries, including Turkey, the European Union (EU) became a party to the UN-Climate change framework agreement, which entered into force in 1994.
Turkey joined this convention in 2004.
Starting with the 1st UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 1) held in Berlin in 1995, the roadmap for stopping climate change-related crises is determined thanks to the decisions taken at these summits that are held every year.
In this context, more concrete environmental targets were set with the Kyoto Protocol signed at the 3rd UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 3) held in 1997, while the Paris Agreement was signed at the 21st UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP21) in 2015. It was the most comprehensive and concrete step taken in this field.
Now, we are at an important crossroads for the evaluation of the decisions taken in the Paris climate agreement at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), which continues in Glasgow, and to set new targets to curb climate change.
WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF THE UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES (COP26)?
At the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), steps that need to be taken to combat global climate change and limit global warming 1.5 degrees Celsius are on the table again.
In particular, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the follow-up on the decisions taken in the Paris Agreement, the financing to be used in the fight against climate change due to carbon markets constitute the main agenda of COP26.
In fact, the COP26 summit is the right framework to take action to solve the problems that stem from climate change due to its overdue and increasing costs on the global economy.
TURKEY AND THE COP26 SUMMIT
By ratifying the Paris agreement, which it signed in 2015 but not ratified by the parliament, before the COP26 summit, Turkey will have the right to participate as an official member in all negotiations on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to speak and vote on all issues.
In addition, Turkey's carbon neutral target for 2053, the expected national contribution target to be presented at or immediately after COP26, and the new strategy document explaining how to achieve these targets will also be on the agenda.
Therefore, within the scope of combating climate change, a new era has been ushered in that will launch significant change in many areas both globally and in Turkey.
