COP26, The Climate Emergency, and The Muslim Contribution
By Shaahima Fahim
Muslim Matters
November 10, 2021
As countries across the world come to terms with COVID-19 as still a significant threat to global public health, we are facing yet another ‘code red for humanity’ – the climate crisis. Furthermore, we are approaching The Anthropocene: a new geological epoch in which humans are the dominant force influencing the climate and environment of our planet.
Currently, in Glasgow, over 20,0000 attendees from 196 countries –including politicians and state leaders- have convened for COP26 (or the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties) in an attempt to put together an urgent and viable international response to the climate emergency. Where the Paris Agreement of 2015 failed to limit global heating to within 1.5C of pre-industrial levels, this Glasgow summit hopes to mobilize national policy leaders to individually and collectively work more pressingly towards a net zero goal by 2050 (where the amount of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere=amount of greenhouse gases removed), among other environmental targets required to avert a climate emergency.