Countries to back tougher targets on harmful emissions at the COP 24

As the COP 24 comes to an end, the climate change talks in Katowice, Poland have centred on devising a rulebook for implementing the 2015 Paris agreement and increasing countries’ ambition levels in order to counter climate change. Pacific and Indian Ocean states have warned that they face annihilation if an agreement on a global climate rulebook could not be reached however, progress had been frustratingly slow with reluctance from the four leading fossil fuel nations; the US, Russia, Saudia Arabia and Kuwait. These four, oil- producing countries insist on merely ‘noting’ rather than ‘welcoming’ the existence of the IPCC’s report warning of the consequences of global warming. The issue of how to acknowledge the report is still ongoing yet the EU along with scores of developing countries have pledged to toughen their existing commitments to reducing harmful emissions.