COP26: 90 Countries Join Effort To Cut Methane Emissions By 30% In 10 Years
The methane pledge could rank among the most significant outcomes of the COP26 conference.
New Delhi: Representatives from around 200 countries are meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, to participate in COP26, the 26th United Nations climate change summit. World leaders, in the first two days at COP26, have made a number of pledges to combat climate change.
Nearly 90 countries Monday joined an effort led by the US and the European Union, which aims to cut emissions of the greenhouse gas methane by 2030.
The goal is to cut the 2020 methane emissions levels by 30 per cent within a decade.
Methane emissions are one of the main causes of climate change.
The Methane Pledge
The Global Methane Pledge, first announced in September this year, now includes half of the top 30 methane emitters in the world. Brazil, one of the world's five biggest emitters of methane, is among the new signatories.
China, Russia and India are also among the top five methane emitters in the world, but have not signed on to the pledge.
Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas (GHG) playing a role in climate change, after carbon-dioxide.
Though methane has a greater potential to trap heat than carbon-dioxide, the former GHG breaks down in the atmosphere faster, implying that cutting methane emissions is an important step towards combating climate change.
The methane pledge could rank among the most significant outcomes of the COP26 conference.
‘Time For Action', Queen Elizabeth Tells World Leaders At COP26
Britain's Queen Elizabeth told world leaders at COP26 that "the time for words has now moved to the time for action". She urged world leaders keep future generations in mind while negotiating deals to limit global warming.
The Queen, in a video message, urged leaders to rise above "the politics of the moment", and said the legacy of a successful summit would help "our children's children".
Queen Elizabeth, the world's oldest and longest-reigning monarch, intended to attend the climate change conference in person, but did not go as doctors advised her to rest.
The Queen said, "It is the hope of many that the legacy of this summit - written in history books yet to be printed - will describe you as the leaders who did not pass up the opportunity; and that you answered the call of those future generations".
She added, "The benefits of such actions will not be there to enjoy for all of us here today: we, none of us will live forever. But we are doing this not for ourselves but for our children and our children's children."
The Queen also paid tribute to her late husband, Prince Philip, who had warned an academic gathering in 1969 about the need to tackle threats from pollution.
"If the world pollution situation is not critical at the moment, it is as certain as anything can be that the situation will become increasingly intolerable within a very short time," she quoted him as saying.
The Queen's two closest heirs, her son Prince Charles and grandson Prince William, are both attending the summit.
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