COP26 draft urges boost to emissions cutting goals by 2022

Negotiators for almost 200 countries are in talks for a major global deal that is expected to be signed by this Friday.

Negotiators from almost 200 countries are in final talks after the release of a draft UN climate summit text which urged countries, including Australia, to boost their emissions cutting goals by 2022.

The plea is three years ahead of schedule after data showed the world was far off track to limit warming to 1.5C.

The UN text was the first indication of where nations are 10 days into the COP26 talks in Glasgow, which host Britain has billed as crucial to achieving the most ambitious temperature goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Negotiators are expected to sign a deal before the end of the climate summit on Friday.

The text called for nations to “revisit and strengthen” their decarbonisation plans by next year and said that limiting heating to 1.5C “requires meaningful and effective action by all parties in this critical decade”.

It said “rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions” were needed to avert the worst impacts of heating, which has already seen countries worldwide slammed by fiercer floods, droughts and storms.

It comes as “phenomenal rainfall” has descended over several parts of Australia, including Alice Springs which recorded its wettest day in 20 years.

The UK Presidency has this morning published the #COP26 first draft cover decisions

I will be holding an informal stocktaking plenary at 1230 today

We will continue to hear all views and my door is open to everyone

👇

Documents | UNFCCC https://t.co/6JcXAQ4OBW

— Alok Sharma (@AlokSharma_RDG) November 10, 2021

Countries’ latest decarbonisation plans submitted under the Paris Agreement are likely to see Earth warm 2.7C this century, according to a United Nations assessment of the pledges.

The 2015 accord contains a “ratchet” mechanism requiring countries to update emissions plans every five years.

Several large emitters missed the 2020 deadline for submitting new plans, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

Vulnerable nations say that the next deadline, in 2025, is too distant to deliver the short-term emissions cuts needed to avoid disastrous heating.

Tuvalu's Foreign Minister Simon Kofe standing thigh-deep in seawater off the coast of Tuvalu, as he addresses delegates at the ongoing COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

In what observers said was a “significant first mention” of the fuels driving global warming, the draft summit called on countries to “accelerate the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels”.

Previous climate summit decisions and the Paris Agreement itself do not so much as mention fossil fuels, focusing instead on emissions.

One senior negotiator told AFP they were confident that the fossil fuel mention would appear in the final text, “in some form or another”.

Little Amal, a giant puppet depicting a Syrian refugee girl, is greeted by local schoolchildren, on the banks of the River Clyde, in Glasgow during the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference. Picture: Paul Ellis / AFP

‘Fuzzy and vague’

But climate scientists and environmental groups criticised the draft for failing to reflect the urgency of the crisis facing the planet.

“This draft deal is not a plan to solve the climate crisis, it’s an agreement that we’ll all cross our fingers and hope for the best,” said Greenpeace International Director Jennifer Morgan.

“It’s a polite request that countries maybe, possibly, do more next year.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due back in Glasgow later Wednesday to check on progress.

Activists from Greenpeace Indonesia take part in a rally with an ice-made effigy and postcards to Indonesian President Joko Widodo calling for action on climate change in Jakarta. Picture: Adek Berry/ AFP

Delegates came to Glasgow with a laundry list of disputes to be resolved, including over how vulnerable nations’ fight against rising temperatures is financed.

Rich emitters promised over a decade ago to provide $100 billion annually to help others green their grids and adapt to the changing climate.

Former US President Barack Obama (C) and United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry (L) meet delegates and activists in the US pavilion during the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Mohamed Adow, director of the Nairobi-based think tank Power Shift Africa, said Wednesday’s draft was “fuzzy and vague” when it came to financing climate action.

He said concrete commitments on funding was “a specific ask of poor countries” from COP26.

Simon Lewis, professor of Global Change Science at University College London, said the draft “acknowledges the enormous gulf” between current emissions plans and a 1.5C pathway.

“Of course, if developed countries don’t deliver on their financial promises, the talks may fall into disarray,” he told AFP.

Originally published as COP26 draft urges boost to emissions cutting goals by 2022