“A fair phasing out of fossil fuels will place the United States and rich countries on most of the burden… which is unacceptable to the negotiators of the Biden administration.
“On the contrary, the existing language of COP26 has a significant impact on developing countries such as India, and there are a lot of loopholes for the continuation of US fossil fuel activities,” He tweeted.
bitter
But this was a heavy blow to many developing countries, many of whom expressed deep disappointment with the text during the meeting. Plenary meeting in the afternoon, But reluctantly accepted it in order to move on.
Many—especially small island states—came to Glasgow, hoping to reach an agreement on the funding of losses and damages.
This refers to the effects of climate change that cannot be adapted, such as sea level rise and temperature rise, and extreme events such as floods, hurricanes and tropical cyclones.
But the United States, Australia, Japan, and the European Union blocked the creation of the fund. Instead, the agreement sets up a process for discussing funding arrangements for “avoid, minimize and resolve loss and damage” activities.
Shauna Aminath, Minister of Environment of the Maldives, said at the plenary meeting in the afternoon: “For some losses and damages, the dialogue may be the beginning.
“For us, this is a question of survival… Please let us politely admit that it does not bring hope to our hearts, but that we put our home in danger when someone with other choices decides. Have another conversation about how quickly they want to take action to save those who don’t.”
Scotland was praised for its pledge of £1 million in losses and damages. It was the first government to make such a pledge. Then it doubled to 2 million pounds.
adapt
The developing countries did successfully request a doubling of adaptation funding.So far, projects that adapt infrastructure and livelihoods to climate change have Receive only 25% of global climate financing.
But this is far from enough. Simon Addison, head of the Public Policy Team for Climate Adaptation Development at the International Institute of Environment and Development, said that this will increase the need for loss and damage funds in the future.
“Without the timely and large-scale emergence of adaptation funds, fragile countries will not be able to overcome the climate risks they face and push them to deeper levels of loss and destruction, and they may not be able to recover from them,” He tweeted.
Harjeet Singh, senior adviser to the Climate Action Network and the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said: “Although the outcome of the summit recognizes the gaps in the loss and damage response of developing countries, steps have been taken to provide funding and justice to developing countries. The climate victim is delayed. When we have to move in miles, we are walking in inches.”
Carbon market
More positively, COP26 agreed on the final elements of the so-called “Paris Rulebook”, which means that these elements can now be implemented.
All countries need to formulate new emission reduction plans before the next UN climate negotiations in 2022, because they recognize that the current plans are not enough.
SecondBy 2024, all countries must report detailed emission data, which will constitute a benchmark for measuring future emission reductions.
Management rules A new carbon market, Which will allow countries to agree on the amount of credits for emissions reduction transactions between each other.
Loopholes
These were major differences in the COP before Madrid and Katowice, especially regarding the loopholes in whether to allow double counting of emission reductions.
James Rose, senior vice president of global policy and government affairs for Natural Charity Conservation International, said that countries can now ensure a “high-quality, consistent and transparent” carbon market.
“This level of certainty will drive new investments to expand the climate action we desperately need in all sectors, including stopping deforestation and promoting other natural climate solutions,” he said.
However, some commentators believe that the language is not clear enough to prevent the company from gambling on the system.
“The rules reached at COP26 are far from perfect, and there are some major loopholes…especially for the carbon market. If used, they could severely undermine efforts to reduce emissions,” Tom Evans, policy adviser at E3G think tank ) Say.
This author
Catherine Early is the chief reporter of the New York Times Ecologist And free environmental journalists.She is on twitter @Cat_Early76.
