COP26 Goes Into Overtime As World Leaders Fail To Reach Consensus On Draft Agreement
The ongoing COP26 Global Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland has now gone into overtime as the world leaders have so far failed to reach a consensus on the draft agreement.
The summit which was scheduled to end on Friday evening local time has stretched well into the night as the leaders failed to find common ground on phasing out coal, when nations need to update their emissions-cutting pledges and, especially, on money.
This is despite the fact that the second draft of the COP26 agreement that was published Friday morning was already a watered-down version of the first.
Even after the language around fossil fuels has been softened, there was clear opposition from many countries on language concerning temperature rise.
More ambitious deal needed
While the proposal retained its core demand for nations to set tougher climate pledges next year, vulnerable countries said they needed a more ambitious deal on financial compensation, with contributions from rich countries responsible for global warming going to poorer countries facing huge costs from worsening storms, droughts and rising sea levels.
What the new draft says
The new draft, which attempts to ensure the world will tackle global warming fast enough to stop it becoming catastrophic, is a balancing act - trying to take in the demands of climate-vulnerable nations, the world's biggest polluters, and nations whose economies rely on fossil fuels.
Some countries said the proposal would keep within reach the Paris Agreement's aspirational target to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the limit scientists say would avert its most severe impacts.
A note from COP26 President Alok Sharma said that a new draft of the agreement would likely be published at around 8 am local time on Saturday.?
Resistance to phase out coals
Countries like Australia and India, the world's third-biggest emitter, have resisted calls to phase out coal any time soon.
Scientists agree it is necessary to end the use of fossil fuels as soon as possible to meet the 2015 Paris accord's ambitious goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius. But explicitly including such a call in the overarching declaration is politically sensitive, including for countries, such as Saudi Arabia, that fear oil and gas may be targeted next.
Another crunch issue is the question of financial aid for poor countries to cope with climate change. Rich nations failed to provide them with $100 billion annually by 2020, as agreed, causing considerable anger among developing countries going into the talks.
The latest draft reflects those concerns, expressing "deep regret'' that the $100 billion goal hasn't been met and urging rich countries to scale up their funding for poor nations to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change -- an issue with which developed countries are also grappling.
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