COP26: Understanding global challenges and why the climate debates are urgent

In the hottest decades in history, the consequences are visible on every continent. Burning fossil fuels has intensified the greenhouse effect, and the average temperature of the planet has risen by 1.1°C since the 19th century, enough to cause damage.

Therefore, 2021 is considered a crucial year in the fight against climate. Two hundred countries must submit plans to reduce polluting gases and limit the increase in Earth’s average temperature to 1.5°C by 2050.

People know what climate change is. The problem is that countries are trying to delay this change, but it needs to be done now. It is essential to understand that we are already bearing the financial costs of the climate crisis,” says Fabiana Alves, Climate and Justice Coordinator at Greenpeace.

Six years after the Paris Agreement, positive signals are emerging from the world’s largest polluters to reduce carbon emissions. However, many countries must present less ambitious goals at COP26, and Brazil must be the center of the action, because to reach zero carbon, countries and companies rely on forests that remove the same amount of carbon emitted.

Brazilian script

Brazil arrived at the conference promising to stop illegal deforestation before 2030, Although the government is already discussing target reduction, is one of the Carbon neutralization by mid-century.

“We have also worked to update our national policy on climate change so that it is compatible with the Paris Agreement,” says Paulino de Carvalho Neto, Brazil’s ambassador to COP26.

However, the Amazon region, for example, is going through the worst moment in the past 10 years. According to the Amazon Institute for Man and the Environment (Imazon), from August 2020 to July this year, the forest lost nearly 10,476 square kilometers, nine times the size of the city of Rio. The increase is 57% compared to the previous season.

“Deforestation is also altering the rainfall cycle, which can cause losses in both the agricultural sector and water and energy crises and the economy,” says Larissa Amorim, an Amazon researcher.

About the increasing number of fires and deforestation in the Amazon, the CNN He sought the environment ministry for comment, but the ministry said it would not comment on the matter.