After lengthy wrangling, the 2021 COP26 climate summit ended with 197 parties agreeing to the new Glasgow Climate Pact. It will get countries to strengthen their CO₂ emissions-cutting targets for 2030 by the end of next year, and formally recognize the need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by a massive 45 percent by 2030.

After the decisions were agreed at the conference, COP26 president Alok Sharma told the climate summit that the target of keeping global warming to within 1.5 °C “will only survive if we keep our promises, if we translate commitments into rapid action.”

The measurement of promises and action in the fight against climate change is built on data. However, according to many observers, the data the world is relying on are inaccurate, either willfully or simply because there’s a lack of standards on how to report the facts on CO₂ emissions and their absorption.

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