2021-10-29
The much anticipated 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference – also known as COP26 – will be happening in Glasgow between 31 October and 12 November. But what exactly is this event and why is this year’s COP especially important?
COP stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’. In the last three decades, the UN has been bringing together almost every country for global climate summits, with the upcoming event being the 26th. In that time, we’ve seen climate change elevate from simply an issue to an urgent global priority.
The reason that all eyes are on COP26 is because experts believe COP26 has a unique urgency. The famous Paris Agreement was negotiated at COP21 in Paris in 2015. An unprecedented achievement took place in terms of global collaboration to fight climate change: each country agreed to work together to limit global warming to below 2 degrees and aim for 1.5 degrees.
Part of the agreement was also to gather every five years with an updated plan to reduce emissions. Delayed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, COP26 is the time to update each participating country’s plan.
With the decade out to 2030 being so crucial in terms of taking urgent climate action, COP26 will need to be decisive.
Another reason why COP26 is so important to Team Allinfra is that Project Genesis will be at the conference. The Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub and Hong Kong Monetary Authority have joined forces on this project to investigate how tokenized green bonds can improve sustainable investment.
Allinfra is providing the underlying green data feed so that this digital infrastructure can enable green investments, improve transparency on the use of proceeds, and thereby help meet regional and global environmental and sustainability goals.