The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) will be held from November 6 to 18 in Egypt. The leader of Iceland’s delegation has told RÚV that Iceland will advocate sticking to the goal of curbing the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 °C.
Sticking to the Paris Agreement
The United Nations Climate Change Conference is a venue for governments to agree on action to limit global temperature rises associated with climate change. This year’s conference (COP27) will be held from November 6 to 18 in Egypt.
Iceland will send a delegation to the conference as the country’s formal representative. In an interview with RÚV, delegation leader Helga Barðadóttir elucidated some of Iceland’s main points of emphasis:
“Our hope is that countries will keep the goal of curbing the global temperature rise to 1.5°, meaning that Earth’s temperature will not rise above 1.5° from industrial levels, which was enshrined in the Paris Agreement. Despite increasing emphasis being placed on curbing the rise of temperatures to 2°,” Helga stated that Iceland would “emphasise 1.5°.”
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This summer, Halldór Þorgeirsson, Chair of Iceland’s Climate Council, underscored the importance of ensuring greater supervision of governmental action plans. An assessment report recently noted that a gap remained between current emissions and the goals laid out by the government’s action plan.
“Following up on such a big project requires constant work,” Helga remarked. “What marks a big leap forward for us is that work has begun where we’ve pulled different sectors of the economy into a larger conversation, encouraging them to set goals to reduce emissions. The companies working within these sectors are most familiar with their own operations and so are best suited to identify those aspects of their operations where emissions can be curbed. Alongside of that, we’re reviewing our action plan.”
