- The draft plan for the UN COP26 summit envisages that countries will begin to increase their emission reduction targets next year.
- The data submitted to the summit shows that the world is far behind its climate goals.
- The summit is being held in Glasgow.
The draft text of the United Nations climate summit on Wednesday urged countries to increase their emission reduction targets by 2022-three years earlier than planned-as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson rushed back to Glasgow to check the pulse of negotiations.
Wednesday’s text is the first sign that countries have held COP26 talks in Glasgow 10 days after the first sign, after data showed that the commitments made so far keep the world away from the orbit of limiting heating to 1.5C.
The task of the negotiators is to speed up the national decarbonization plan, provide long-term pledged funds for fragile countries, and finalize the rules of the Paris Agreement on carbon markets and transparency.
Alok Sharma, Chairman of COP26, told delegates: “Some major issues are still unresolved. I think we know that time is not by our side.”
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“We all know the stakes of these negotiations and the urgency of our tasks.”
As COP26 enters the final two days, and as ministers begin high-level debates, the text will change, calling on countries to “re-examine and strengthen” their decarbonization plans by next year, instead of the previously agreed 2025.
It stated that limiting heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius-the most ambitious temperature target in the Paris Agreement-“needs all parties to take meaningful and effective action in this critical decade.”
“Rapid, in-depth and continuous reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions”, the text said, the most serious impact of heating needs to be avoided, and countries around the world have suffered more severe floods, droughts and storms.
The 2015 agreement includes a “ratcheting” mechanism that requires countries to update their emission plans every five years.
Some large emitters have missed the 2020 deadline for submitting new plans (called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)).
Fragile states say that the next deadline, 2025, is too far away from achieving the short-term emission reductions needed to avoid catastrophic heating.
Observers said that this is an “important first mention” of fuels that promote global warming, and the summit draft calls on countries to “speed up the phase-out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies.”
The previous climate summit decision and the Paris Agreement itself did not mention fossil fuels, but focused on emissions.
But the fossil fuel reference does not include a deadline, and it is unclear whether it will become the final text.
According to an assessment by the United Nations, the latest decarbonization plan submitted by countries in accordance with the Paris Agreement may warm the earth by 2.7 degrees Celsius in this century.
‘Function word’
Climate scientists and environmental organizations criticized the draft for failing to reflect the urgency of the crisis facing the planet.
“This draft agreement is not a plan to solve the climate crisis, but an agreement. We will all pray and hope for the best results,” said Jennifer Morgan, International Director of Greenpeace.
“This is a polite request. Countries may do more next year.”
Johnson-who flew back to Glasgow by train after the leaders’ summit in the Scottish city last week-is expected to release the latest developments later on Wednesday.
Delegates came to Glasgow with a long list of unresolved disputes, including how fragile states were funded to fight rising temperatures.
More than a decade ago, wealthy emitters pledged to provide 100 billion U.S. dollars a year to help others green their power grids and adapt to the changing climate.
However, the draft text paid little attention to this number, and only “regrettably” pointed out that it had not yet been achieved.
Teresa Anderson, Climate Policy Coordinator at ActionAid International, said: “With this text, our leaders have disappointed all of us.”
“These empty words are out of reach for the scale of the huge challenges facing humanity.”
Simon Lewis, professor of global change science at University College London, said that the draft “recognizes that there is a huge gap between the current emissions plan and the 1.5C path”.
But he told Agence France-Presse that “if developed countries do not honor their financial commitments, the negotiations may fall into chaos.”
Wednesday saw some countries and manufacturers set a goal to stop selling new gasoline and diesel cars by 2040, although the world’s largest manufacturer is not on this list.
