The draft agreement on the COP26 climate summit, released at dawn on Wednesday, was the starting point for intense negotiations between countries to reach a final agreement before the end of the meeting on Friday.
The following is a draft drafted by the British host of COP26:
New climate promise
The goal of countries to reduce emissions during this decade will still lead to a temperature increase of 2.4 degrees Celsius, far exceeding the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoiding its most catastrophic impact.
In order to close this gap, the COP26 draft text requires countries to upgrade their 2030 emission reduction plans by the end of 2022.
Fragile states are pushing to review the commitments of countries every year-which is much faster than the current five-year review cycle of the United Nations.
Both the United States and the European Union said they could support faster reviews, but others said that the annual review would be a bureaucratic burden.
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The draft stated that starting next year, government ministers will also meet annually to review efforts to improve ambitions before 2030.
More money
The draft “urges” developed countries to “urgently expand” aid to help countries adapt to global warming, and states that countries should double their funding to help poor countries adapt to climate impacts-although it did not specify a deadline.
Rich countries have failed to fulfill their long-term commitments to provide poorer countries with US$100 billion in climate funding each year by 2020, and it is expected to be fulfilled three years later.
The draft agreement tells rich countries to fulfill this promise as soon as possible, but does not elaborate on plans to do so. It also stated that the quality of climate finance needs to be improved, providing more grants and fewer loans.
The draft mentions controversial compensation issues. It requires rich countries, whose greenhouse gas emissions in history have been primarily responsible for global warming, to provide more support to deal with the damage already caused by climate change, but it did not specify the amount of funds raised or set strict rules.
The small island states stated that they will push for the final COP26 negotiations to reach a stronger financial agreement.
fossil fuel
The draft text is aimed at the combustion of coal, oil and natural gas, and requires countries to “speed up the phase-out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies.”
This will mark the first time that fossil fuels have been named and humiliated in the conclusion of the United Nations Climate Summit-a controversial move that is expected to be resisted by some countries, although the proposal does not set a fixed date for the phase-out of fuel.
The document also details how quickly the world needs to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to control global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius — 45% reduction from 2010 levels by 2030, and net zero by 2050 — effectively setting countries Benchmark measurement of future climate commitments.
