Climate finance could make or break the COP26 summit. Here’s why
At the U.N. climate conference, expect one theme to drown out the cacophony of pledges from countries and companies around the world: money.
The COP26 summit, which began on Sunday in Glasgow, will attempt to complete the rules to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement – which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial times – and secure more ambitious commitments from countries to meet its targets.
Underpinning progress on both issues is money. Climate finance refers to money that richer nations – responsible for the bulk of the greenhouse gas emissions heating the planet -give to poorer nations to help them cut their own emissions and adapt to the deadly storms, rising seas and droughts worsened by global warming. So far, the money hasn’t arrived.
