Ljubljana - Umanotera, a Slovenian environmental NGO, has called on Europe to increase its carbon emission reduction goal to at least 65% in the wake of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, which the organisation finds has not met the great expectations with the global commitments far from what needs to be done to mitigate the climate emergency on time.

The NGO notes that the message of the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was that taking decisive action in this decade is key to reducing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and that greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced by 45% compared to 2010 by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by mid-century.

The great expectations for countries to bring ambitious national plans of short- and long-term measures to the Glasgow negotiating table failed to materialise. The measures in the national action plans put forward by the countries will still lead to an increase in emissions by 2030, says the organisation.

"Europe is among the world's most ambitious regions in climate policies. Considering its large historical contribution to climate change and its having sufficient financial resources and competences, it would be right that it increased its emission reduction goal by 2030 to at least 65% and reached climate neutrality in the decade before mid-century," Umanotera said in its written response yesterday.

The organisation notes that global warming cannot be stopped at 1.5C without fully phasing out coal. "This makes the explicit mention of fossil fuels in the conference's closing document historic."

However, the NGO also says that "one of the conference's key failures is the lack of progress in putting in place a mechanism to financially support the communities which are already feeling today the disastrous and irreversible consequences of extreme weather events. Rich countries have again shirked their responsibility in Glasgow."