COP26 fresh draft reaffirms 1.5°C target

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 12

As countries raced to finalise a deal after two weeks of climate talks at Glasgow that officially ended today, a new draft released by the COP26 Presidency this morning made certain changes to strike a compromise following a lack of consensus on the document released on Wednesday.

Climate activists, however, criticised “watered-down commitments to end the use of coal and other fossil fuels”, saying “we don’t believe their pledges and promises”.

Officials insisted that language around fossil fuels may be “softened”, but the inclusion of a commitment in the final deal will be seen as a “landmark moment”.

The final text can be expected late tonight (UK time) or tomorrow.

The Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) officially concluded, but past records suggest that negotiations may spill over to Saturday.

A deal must be agreed at the key summit for limiting visible effects of global warming across the world.

Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav today reiterated India’s stance. “Negotiations to fight climate change at COP26 have been happening in an atmosphere of cooperation and mutual respect for each other’s ideas, strengths and constraints.

“Each side has put its point across the table emphatically because clarity is critical to positive and meaningful outcomes,” he said, reiterating that “wealthy nations that reaped the benefits of early industrialisation by burning fossil fuels and growing their economies for centuries must accommodate the concerns and needs of the economies that need to make the switch to clean and green energy”.

The world must start acting together on four areas — temperature, mitigation, finance and responsibility to fight climate change, the minister said.

The new draft reaffirms the Paris Agreement temperature goal of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels

However, instead of “urging” countries to revisit the 2030 targets in their nationally determined contributions (as necessitated to align with the Paris Agreement temperature goal by the end of 2022), the new draft uses the word “request”, according to reports.