Marcus DuBois King

The COP 26 meeting in Glasgow is the first opportunity since the signing of the Paris Accord in 2015 for signatories to revisit voluntary greenhouse gas emissions targets. As they enter into the second week of negotiations, these countries are not on track to meet the most ambitious goal of emissions reductions that would keep the planet to 1.5ºC or 2.7ºF warming compared to preindustrial levels. With this goal potentially out of reach, they should also turn attention toward addressing two important issues for those nations most affected by climate change’s ravages, climate finance and loss and damages. It is vital that negotiations toward new financial support for climate adaptation and new mechanisms for compensating impacted nations are successful. If so, then negotiators at COP 26 can still make meaningful progress toward dealing with the worst impacts of the climate crisis.