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Good morning, this is Pip. With the highly anticipated Cop26 kicking off on Monday, we speak to former WMO boss Michel Jarraud about his hopes and fears for the climate conference, and what to expect as world leaders convene in Glasgow with a very urgent task in hand.

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Pip Cook

29.10.2021


Michel Jarraud: ‘Every Cop has a different dynamic’


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Former WMO secretary-general Michel Jarraud. (Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi)

Cop26 is getting underway in less than two days, amid warnings that climate change is having deadly consequences and countries are far behind in curbing their carbon emissions.

A UN report released on Tuesday revealed that, given countries’ climate commitments, the world was heading towards a 2.7ºC rise in global temperatures, breaching the 2ºC target set in Paris in 2015. Michel Jarraud, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) from 2004 to 2015, saw the Paris agreement come to fruition.

As leaders prepare to gather in Glasgow to take stock of the progress made since the last Cop, Jarraud spoke to Geneva Solutions about the challenges that negotiators will face over some of the most contentious topics.

Geneva Solutions: Cop26 was supposed to be the moment of truth, yet most countries have not strengthened their climate plans, rich economies have not kept their financing promises and very few have made net-zero pledges. Could this year’s Cop be on the path towards disaster?

Michel Jarraud: I've attended probably more than 15 Cops and every Cop has a different dynamic. So it's difficult to predict in advance what will happen because a number of actors and countries do not want to put all their cards on the table before negotiations start…

Read more on Geneva Solutions.

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