COP26: First draft asks nations to revisit climate plans

THE United Nations climate agency has published the first draft of the political decision countries will likely issue at the end of the COP26 summit (26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)) which is being held in Glasgow in Scotland.

Negotiators from almost 200 nations will work on the draft released on Wednesday (10) to strike a final deal before the summit concludes on Friday (12).

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The draft urges the countries to “revisit and strengthen” their 2030 climate plans by the end of the next year to meet the world’s targets of holding global warming to 1.5-degree Celsius and well below two-degree Celsius.

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The Paris agreement on climate, which was adopted in 2015, set the goal of holding the rise in the global average temperature to well below two-degree Celsius above the pre-industrial levels.

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The countries have also agreed to accelerate phasing out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies under the draft. If the goal remains in the final statement agreed by 196 nations later this week, it will be the first time ever that the outcome of a UN climate summit or international climate treaty has explicitly mentioned fossil fuels, the main reason for the rise in global temperatures.

The draft also calls for a “just transition to net zero emissions” and stresses on the importance of scaled-up financial resources, taking into account the requirements of developing countries vulnerable to climate change, Al Jazeera reported.

The observers have welcomed the commitment to phase out coal but they also questioned whether the pledges would be effective enough.

Tracy Carty, the head of Oxfam’s COP26 delegation, said the draft decision was “too weak.”

“It fails to include a clear and unambiguous commitment to increase the ambition of 2030 emission reduction targets next year to keep 1.5 degrees alive. Emissions are rising, not falling and current commitments are way off track for keeping this goal within reach,” she said in a statement.