UN COP26 climate summit: what was accomplished?

The United Nations global climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, ended over the weekend with an agreement among nearly 200 nations to accelerate the fight against the climate crisis and to commit to tougher climate pledges.

The two week conference ended with some significant accomplishments, including new pledges on methane gas pollution, deforestation, coal financing, as well as completion of long-awaited rules on carbon trading and a notable U.S.-China deal. The summit also closed with calls on governments to return in 2022 with stronger pledges to slash greenhouse gas emissions and to provide more available funding for nations most vulnerable to a changing climate.

But some climate scientists, legal experts, and politicians argued the final deal out of Glasgow resulted in incremental progress inadequate to address the severity of the climate crisis. Some climate activists and campaigners also sharply criticized the COP26 as an exclusionary fortnight of talks that became a public relations exercise.

Some experts point out that the real measure of success after the COP26 will be if and when countries turn their promises into action.

“In a year marked by uncertainty and mistrust, COP26 affirmed the importance of collective global action to address the climate crisis,” Ani Dasgupta, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute, said in a statement.

“While we are not yet on track, the progress made over the last year and at the COP26 summit offered bright spots,” Dasgupta said. “The real test now is whether countries accelerate their efforts and turn commitments into action.”

Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the 26th UN climate summit:

The Global Methane Pledge covers countries that account for nearly half of global methane emissions and 70% of global GDP. Methane is 84 times more potent than carbon and doesn’t last as long in the atmosphere before it breaks down. This makes it a critical target for combatting climate change quickly while simultaneously minimizing other greenhouse gas emissions.

Barry Rabe, a professor at the University of Michigan and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that while the summit devoted unprecedented attention to reducing methane emissions, the pledge is just a start.

“The Glasgow meetings serve as a reminder of just how hard it is to achieve transformational progress on climate change in…