COP26: Are You Ready?
Are you ready for the upcoming COP26, which takes place right here in the same city as iOpts headquarters, Glasgow? Delayed a year due to covid, COP26 is taking place on 1st – 12th November 2021 and is the 26th Conference of Parties.
We can't dismiss the effects of climate change, but we can mitigate and adapt to reduce the risks and limit human suffering. Taking solid and bold steps to address and adapt to climate change need not invite economic gloom or widen inequality. The opposite is true.
With the world's eyes on the UK, Scotland to be precise, this is a unique opportunity for both the government and the sector to present authentic leadership. As a country, together we will thoroughly reduce carbon dioxide emissions, improve energy efficiency, promote green growth, and create resilient communities with the proper funding, policies, and technologies.
But What's It All About?
COP26 is critically important. It comes six years on from the 2015 Paris Agreement and acts as a pivotal moment to take stock of progress and ramp up commitments alongside establishing a clear plan for how climate action targets will be met in the short, medium, and long term.
What's The Paris Agreement?
Implemented at COP21 in 2015, most of the world's nations committed to containing global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably 1.5 degrees. It was a significant culmination of more than twenty years of diplomatic action.
Understanding Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC's)
NDC's is a timetable that was agreed in Paris in which each country should submit updated national plans every five years for reducing emissions and adapting to the effects caused by climate change. Since 2015, over 190 countries have released at least one version of their NDC. But NDC efforts do not yet rise to the agreed level of the Paris Agreement (as of Sep. 2021).
Additionally, countries gave themselves three years to agree on the implementation guidelines. At the UN climate conference in Katowice, Poland, in December 2018, COP24, countries agreed on most of the Paris Rulebook (also known as the Katowice Climate Package), consisting of three core tenants: Plan, Implement, Review.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
IPCC is the UN body that issues comprehensive "Assessment Reports" on the state of knowledge on climate change (scientific, technical and socio-economic), the impacts and future risks, as well as options for reducing it.
COP Timeline
Let's take a quick step back in time and see where it all began.
1992 - The UN Conference on the Environment and Development (known initially as UNCED aka Earth Summit) consisted of 30,000 representatives of 178 governments, NGOs, media, and other individuals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
COP1 - The first-ever official Climate COP after the name change was held in Berlin in 1995. This now takes place annually and attracts over 40,000 delegates worldwide.
2019 - Under President Donal Trump at the time, the USA quit the Paris Agreement.
2021 - On his first day in office, President Jo Biden re-joined the Paris Agreement. Shortly after, he released the USA's first NDC, setting a target to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030.
What's The COP26 Agenda?
For COP26, the UK Presidency has set out four key goals for the event:
Step up mitigation efforts: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions further for the 1.5 degree Celsius goal to be within reach.
Strengthen, adaptation and resilience: Protect the population on a global level, mainly to protect the world's most vulnerable regions from the already unavoidable impacts of climate change.
Mobilise USD 100 billion in climate finance: Since Paris 2015, developed countries have allocated funding every year to support the decarbonisation of developing countries. This is because the UNFCCC is based on the principle of "common but differentiated responsibility", i.e. the entire global community needs to take part in combat climate change. Still, those efforts need to be commensurate with the capabilities of each signatory.
Enhance international collaboration: In particular, finalising and agreeing on the Paris Rulebook.
The UK Presidency has also hinted at five themes for COP26 - Clean energy; Adaptation and resilience; Energy transition in transport; Nature-based solutions; Finance.
Where Does Social Housing Come In?
Now is the time for the government to set out ambitious plans for decarbonising social housing, building new green homes, and delivering that long-promised retrofit revolution that will benefit not just social housing and social tenants but also create a nationwide roll-out of a retrofit programme across all tenures.
As COP26 is only weeks away, where are housing associations on that journey to net-zero? What challenges lie ahead? And how can iOpt help?
Well, for a start, we know there is no lack of ambition in the sector. Housing associations are passionate and committed to tackling climate change and improving the health and wellbeing of tenants by improving the energy efficiency of homes and cutting fuel bills. But the scale of this task is enormous.
And there are significant challenges to overcome, including challenges on funding and finance, on the need for policy clarity and certainty from the government, on understanding and adopting new technologies, on how we develop skills and supply chains and on how we engage and enthuse tenants.
But when it comes to iOpt and our clients, we're all about the data. Our discrete devices are placed in tenants home, extracting key data on temperature, humidity, co2, and so much more. This vital data allows asset managers to deal with an issue before it damages the property and detrimentally affects a tenant's health.
Additionally, our service allows housing and asset managers to resolve an issue they otherwise may not know was there. This can also save money on energy bills for the tenant and call out charges as fewer maintenance call-outs are required when an iOpt device detects the air quality.
While it may be a small part to play, our technology is helping to improve the quality of our clients’ assets which goes a long way in achieving net zero by 2050. Want to find out more about what we do? Connect with us.
