A lot of comments seem to take the cynical route of pointing out that this is not enough or that the promises won't be kept. This is all true of course but miss

A lot of comments seem to take the cynical route of pointing out that this is not enough or that the promises won't be kept. This is all true of course but misses why summits like the COP26 are held at all. Elected officials need broad support from their base to enact policies that can have a hit on quality of life. Fighting climate changes with the solutions that we have right now requires actual sacrifices from the people, and that is never good news for elected officials because their constituent ultimately value their comfort much more than possible future gains or sea level in third world countries. Now when they hold a summit, they get some needed spotlight on the issue and get to have everyone in the media stress out how important that fight is. This translates into a stronger support for environmental policies at the local level which turns it into a key issue for voters. Once that's achieved the line moves for everyone and it's easier to push far reaching changes. On forums such as HN where the majority is center-left (at least on environmental issues), achieved higher-education and probably younger than the median American it's easy to lose sight on the fact that climate change is still not seen as an absolute truth for a significant chunk of the world[1]. Summits such as the COP26 helps raise more awareness and hopefully we'll have enough support before it's really too late. [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/18/a-look-at-how-people-around-the-world-view-climate-change/ft_19-04-18_climatechangeglobal_since2013concerns/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/18/a-look-at-h...