COP26: Negotiations overshoot, countries strive hard to reach agreement on ambitions and equity
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 13
Countries continued negotiations to arrive at an agreement aimed at averting the worst impacts of climate change a day after the COP26 in Glasgow officially ended. Observers say negotiators are pouring over crucial matters related to finance, carbon markets, and loss and damage, and the final text will be made public soon.
Till the filing of this report, it was not clear whether negotiations will lead to a final deal on Saturday or some more talks.
The observers say that several sticking points, especially on fossil fuels and on financial help to poorer nations, remain. The new version of the agreement continues to refer to “accelerating efforts towards phase-out of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”, which environmentalists dismissed as “watered-down”. However, this is the first time that coal has been explicitly mentioned in a UN document of this type, some observers also pointed.
They suggested “movement overnight on crucial elements”.
The points of contention around Article 6 and carbon markets have narrowed and the US and Japan appear to have been successful on making cancellation of credits “voluntary, and not mandatory”.
Article 6 is a part of the Paris Agreement.
Governed by Article 6, rules around the trade in emissions reductions between countries have the potential to make or break the entire agreement. Writing the rules for Article 6 has been the central element of COP26 negotiations.
Meanwhile, developing countries appear to have secured the doubling of adaptation finance, though without any detail on delivery, although the draft stressed urgency.
Though tricky issues remain, for example how most vulnerable countries will cope with increasing impacts of climate with a potential to severely impact annual GDP. Apparently, America and European Union have refused to accept anything tougher than a series of ‘dialogues’ on the issues.
In other words, there has not been much progress particularly on loss and damage financing.
Broadly, the new draft “urges” countries who have not landed new plans to do so by 2022, “requests” all countries to raise climate targets in line with 1.5-2C by and of 2022, talks of annual UN assessment of climate plans from 2022, signals to countries to accelerate shift off fossil fuels, coal to renewable energy, notes with “deep regret” developed countries missing $100 billion target, urges them to “fully deliver” on the $100 billion goal through 2025, “welcomes” the further operationalisation of the Santiago network and urges countries to provide funds of it, according to reports.
Activists have urged US President Joe Biden to “even now” tell his team in Glasgow to not “block public adaptation funding and finance for loss and damage from developed nations to developing countries threatened by rising temperatures”. A number of activists and scientists have also expressed concern over “lack of near-term, verifiable and ambitious climate solutions from governments at the vital COP”.
The Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was scheduled to end on Friday.
