Sustainable Organizations: Climate Change, Paris Agreement and COP26

This report provides a detailed analysis of the global efforts to combat climate change, with a specific focus on the European Union's initiatives in relation to the 2015 Paris Agreement and the COP26 conference held in 2021. It highlights the framework established by the Paris Agreement and the goals and agendas set during COP26, examining Europe's climate plan to reduce emissions by 2030. The report outlines the strategies Europe is implementing to achieve its climate goals in accordance with the Paris Agreement, and concludes with an informed opinion on the Western world's potential to achieve carbon neutrality and eliminate emissions, referencing both the challenges posed by corporate interests and the potential of technological innovation.

Building a sustainable
organisation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Paris agreement and COP26 ..................................................................................................3
Agenda and goals of COP26..................................................................................................4
Europe's climate plan..............................................................................................................4
How EU will tackle climate change and comply with goals and standards of ......................5
the Paris Agreement, 2015.....................................................................................................5
Opinion on the western world becoming carbon neutral and achieving zero .......................5
emissions by 2030..................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The impact and stress that has been put on the world and correspondingly
our environmental and natural surroundings has been unparalleled in recent times
and the dire reality of it all started to set in Rio Earth Summit in 1992 where the
international action against climate change was officially adopted as an active
agenda by the United Nations via a framework for addressing harmful
environmenal effects called UNFCCC which contains many members (Aines and
et.al., 2021).
Almost 3 decades later in 2022, the situation is not looking good at all as the
average temperature has risen globally and 2010-19 was the warmest decade ever
recorded. This report will critically analyse the steps and agendas taken towards
combating climate change with an emphasis on the EU and against the background
of 2015 Paris agreement and COP26 in order to judge whether the western world
could successfully become carbon neutral and curb harmful emissions by 2030.
MAIN BODY
Paris agreement and COP26
Harm to environment and the amount of taxation being levied on natural
resources has always been a common cause of concern worldwide but it only
became a major agenda to work upon in 2015 by the Paris agreement which is an
international treaty which legally bound and brought together 196 parties to work
together to revert climate change and curb harmful emissions to maintain
sustainability in our environment by working on a 5 year cycle (Gifford, 2022).
Fast forward 7 years and the developments in the climate change domain have
been significant but nowhere near enough to offset the damage being done to
nature by rampant industrialization and the COP26 conference which took place in
2021 addressed this issue further and was the most pivotal development in the

global fight against climate change since the Paris Agreement in 2015. COP26 was
held in Glasgow with moderate online participation in the light of the COVID-19
pandemic and included all the countries which signed the original framework of
United Nation's climate change convention, the UNFCCC all the way back in 1992
(Pasimeni, and et.al., 2019). The major goal of this conference was to propose
solutions and spark international dialogue on climate change and to check the
progress that countries have made towards tackling climate change domestically.
Agenda and goals of COP26
The COP26 conference was a major development as all member nations
were called to put forth their progress and solutions to combat environmental harm
and their difficulties in doing the same for collective brainstorming (Kinley,
2019) . There were many major goals and agendas that were established and
countries were asked to achieve the same which are given below.
 Limiting temperature increases globally by 1.5 degree Celsius.
 Considerable increase in climate finance.
 Helping the communities worldwide who are getting affected by climate
change.
 Proving solutions which are in best interest of nature as well as the
governments.
 Making sure that the fight against climate change is inclusive and involves
minorities.
Europe's climate plan
EU is a major world power and as such it's participation in controlling
climate change and environmental harm is of prime importance and it has stepped
up to take this responsibility as Europe's 2030 climate target plan aims to make the
region climate neutral by 2050 by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions by at-

least 55% by 2030. This initiative was established with a long term leadership
vision to turn Europe into a hub of green solutions and energy by creating green
jobs, achieving cost efficiency in developing sustainable solutions and partnering
internationally to achieve goals of Paris agreement and COP26 (Shen, Li and
Hasnaoui, 2021).
How EU will tackle climate change and comply with goals and standards of
the Paris Agreement, 2015
EU has made appreciable progress towards the goals and standards set by
COP26 however the goals have not been met and EU has been taking many steps
to tackle climate change more efficiently which are listed below.
 Developing and enacting upon a climate plan which aims to curb the
emission of greenhouse gases by 55% till 2030.
 Building green jobs and sustainable energy divisions for businesses in
Europe for an ozone-friendly economy which is climate and emission
neutral by 2050.
 Developing and administering a European climate law to achieve the set
plans and goals and translating innovative green deals into action.
Opinion on the western world becoming carbon neutral and achieving zero
emissions by 2030
The western world has been looked upon as trend setters and innovators
when it comes to global issues but when it comes to climate change, the picture
does not inspire much confidence at all. Western corporates are ruthless pursuers
of profits and operate globally to exploit resource rich locations and their
operations pollute environment on a regular basis (Wang, and et.al., 2022).
However a glimmer of hope still remains as Ikea along with scientists do believe
that it is possible for the western world to become emission free but harsh and

heavy steps must be taken to control carbon footprints and use of hi-tech
technology such as devices which suck carbon dioxide out of air. Western world
also has thinkers and pioneers of innovation like Elon Musk whose company Tesla
has been working and breaking new grounds in providing clean energy vehicles
and solutions but the goal is very far away at the current pace of developments in
the field of climate change in the western world.
CONCLUSION
The above concluded report went into detail regarding the growing threat of
climate change and the way it has been getting addressed by EU in relation to the
Paris agreement, 2015 and the COP26, 2021. The framework of Paris Agreement
and the goals and agendas established during the COP26 were highlighted and the
climate plan developed by Europe to control it's emissions by 2030 was touched
upon. The various strategies that Europe is deploying to achieve their climate plan
in accordance to the goals set by the Paris Agreement were also described and an
informed opinion was given regarding the capabilities of western world to become
carbon neutral and emission free.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aines and et.al., 2021. COP26 Futures We Want-UK Country Profile.
Gifford, L., 2022. The AAG’s Emissions Problem: Achieving Carbon Neutrality in a Post-offset
World. The Professional Geographer, 74(1), pp.178-181.
Kinley, R., 2019. Climate change after Paris: from turning point to transformation. In Green
Planet Blues (pp. 188-195). Routledge.
Pasimeni, and et.al., 2019. The interplay between urban mitigation and adaptation strategies to
face climate change in two European countries. Environmental Science & Policy, 95,
pp.20-27.
Shen, Y., Li, X. and Hasnaoui, A., 2021. BRICS carbon neutrality target: Measuring the impact
of electricity production from renewable energy sources and globalization. Journal of
Environmental Management, 298, p.113460.
Wang, and et.al., 2022. The role of green innovations, environmental policies and carbon taxes in
achieving the sustainable development goals of carbon neutrality. Environmental
Science and Pollution Research, 29(6), pp.8393-8407.