‘Fragile win’: COP26 Glasgow’s pledge to end coal power weakened in final compromise

Glasgow: The Glasgow climate summit has closed with members failing to agree on a call to “phase-out” coal use, after a last-minute intervention by India which succeeded in watering down the language to “phase down”.

The change prompted disappointment and even anger among many nations, who believed an emphatic call to end reliance on fossil fuels was necessary to put the world on a path to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, and that India’s change was adopted without due process.

COP26 president Alok Sharma described the talks as a “fragile win”, adding the “pulse is weak” in the effort to keep 1.5 alive.

COP26 President Alok Sharma at the Closing Plenary of the COP26 Climate Summit. Credit: Getty Images

Commitments made at the conference failed to clear a path to reducing emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 which was needed to stabilise the climate at 1.5 degrees.

But after negotiations between nearly 200 countries that were to have ended on Friday ground on into Saturday night (Sunday morning AEDT), members agreed to change the wording to protect the broader “phase down” agreement, which has been cautiously welcomed by observers for increasing momentum in emission reductions and for the first time specifically addressing fossil fuels.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the final texts were compromised and reflected “the interests, the conditions, the contradictions and the state of political will in the world today.

“We are still knocking on the door of climate catastrophe.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the climate deal struck was a big step forward, and he hoped it would mark the beginning of the end of climate change.

“There is still a huge amount more to do in the coming years,” Johnson said in a statement. “But today’s agreement is a big step forward and, critically, we have the first ever international agreement to phase down coal and a roadmap to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.

“I hope that we will look back on COP26 in Glasgow as the beginning of the end of climate change, and I will continue to work tirelessly towards that goal.”

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday, November 13, in London, visiting a vaccination centre. Credit: Reuters Pool

India was insistent right to the very end on the need to retain fossil fuels.

“This climate crisis has been caused by unsustainable lifestyles and wasteful consumption,” said Indian Environment and Climate Minister Bhupender Yadav. “The world needs to awaken to this reality. Fossil fuels and their use have enabled parts of the world to attain high levels of wealth and wellbeing.”

Bhupender Yadav, India’s Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Credit: Getty Images

Yadav said “targeting any particular industry is uncalled-for” and stressed developing countries were entitled to use fossil fuels given developed nations had used them for decades and were responsible for historic emissions.

The agreement, already being called the Glasgow Climate Pact, calls upon nations to phase out “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” and recognises the need for “a just transition” from fossil fuels.

Sharma said he was “deeply sorry” about the last-minute changes on the wording about coal.

His voice breaking with emotion after hearing from vulnerable nations which expressed their anger over the changes to the text, he said: “May I just say to all delegates I apologise for the way this process has unfolded and I am deeply sorry.”

Australia on watchlist

The pact speeds up the so-called “ratchet mechanism” of the Paris Agreement by calling on countries like Australia that have not increased their 2030 targets to do so as soon as possible before the next COP summit in Egypt next November.

It calls on all nations to revisit and improve the emission reductions targets and strategies annually and report their progress via ministerial meetings.

Asked by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age what the consequences should be if a country like Australia ultimately ignored the request to come back in 2022 with higher 2030 emission reductions targets, Sharma said:

“All countries have signed up to this and at the end of the day this is an international agreement and each country will be judged by whether or not they stuck to the commitments they’ve made.”

Climate activist Greta Thunberg, whose urgent calls for action were often quoted by negotiators inside the “blue zone”, expressed her disappointment and determination in a tweet after the result.

“The COP26 is over. Here’s a brief summary: Blah, blah, blah. But the real work continues outside these halls. And we will never give up, ever.”

And she reposted a message sent last week mid-way through the summit: “Unless we achieve immediate, drastic, unprecedented, annual emission cuts at the source then that means we’re failing when it comes to this climate crisis. ‘Small steps in the right direction’, ‘making some progress’ or ‘winning slowly’ equals losing.”

The final pact text “expresses alarm and utmost concern that human activities have caused around 1.1 degrees of warming to date… and that carbon budgets consistent with achieving the Paris Agreement temperature goal are now small and being rapidly depleted”.

It also emphasises the need for rapid reductions this decade if 2050 targets are to work, and completes key elements of the so-called Paris rule book, governing how a global carbon market can operate.

‘You can’t let perfect be the enemy of the good’

Even before the Indian intervention delegations had expressed serious misgivings about the final document, most said they believed it was a realistic compromise that drove forward efforts to curb climate change.

“Obviously, we know the old adage that in negotiations you can’t let perfect be the enemy of the good,” said United States climate envoy John Kerry. “And this is good. It’s a powerful statement.”

Developing nations failed in their effort to have the pact include a mechanism for wealthy countries to pay for the loss and damage already occurring in climate vulnerable states.

The move to pay for damages was opposed by powerful countries that are progressive on other climate related matters, such as the United Kingdom and the US.

“The needs of the world’s vulnerable people have been sacrificed on the altar of the rich world’s selfishness,” said Mohammed Adow, director of the energy and climate Power Shift Africa.

“The outcome here reflects a COP held in the rich world and the outcome contains the priorities of the rich world. They claim to want urgency on emissions reductions, yet they continue to expand fossil fuel production within their own borders.”

Simon Bradshaw, head of research for the Climate Council, said the direct references to fossil fuels and the mechanism to increase the tempo of emissions reductions were significant.

“The new commitments that countries brought to Glasgow are not enough to get on the path to limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, but the real measure of success will be whether it has succeeded in kickstarting a decade of truly transformative action… on that front there are reasons for hope.”

He said Australia had eventually backed the pact, despite opposing some of the language regarding coal in earlier negotiations, but it had isolated itself at the talks.

“The federal government showed up empty-handed to a pivotal moment in the fight for our future. They’ve let down our Pacific neighbours, as well as Australians who do not deserve to endure more frequent and severe bushfires, floods, droughts and heatwaves,” Dr Bradshaw said.

“As our allies and trading partners rise to the climate challenge, we’re stuck in a polluting past with a handful of countries including Russia and Saudi Arabia. The government’s own net-zero modelling released two days ago predicts Australia will still be a major coal and gas exporter in 2050.”

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