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COP26 final agreement: 196 countries agree to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and “phase down” coal

The Blue Zone at COP26

COP26 delegates had been negotiating for 2 weeks in Glasgow, UK

Jonne Roriz/Bloomberg through Getty Photos

Practically 200 international locations have made an unprecedented and historic pledge to hurry up the top of fossil gasoline subsidies and coal on the COP26 local weather summit, the place India pushed by way of an eleventh hour intervention to weaken the language on coal.

Crucially, regardless of virtually a fortnight’s negotiations that ran greater than 24 hours late, the 196 international locations assembly in Glasgow dedicated to issuing stronger 2030 local weather plans subsequent yr in a bid to avert harmful international warming.

Pledges at COP26 are anticipated to see Earth heat 2.4°C this century, higher than the anticipated 2.7°C predicted earlier than the summit however nonetheless an increase that will convey excessive local weather impacts and see international locations overshoot their shared objectives of 1.5°C and “nicely under” 2°C.

The promise to “revisit and strengthen” new plans by the top of 2022 means the UK authorities internet hosting the summit can credibly declare to have delivered its purpose of “preserving alive” the 1.5°C goal. “It’s a massive second,” says Chris Stark of the Local weather Change Committee, an unbiased group that advises the UK authorities.

Recent plans submitted subsequent yr for curbing emissions in 2030 should be aligned with the 1.5°C objective, an necessary new requirement which means these governments who fall quick must justify why to their residents. Australia, Brazil and Indonesia are amongst many international locations whose present plans are insufficient and can must be strengthened.

Till at present, coal and fossil gasoline subsidies have by no means been explicitly talked about in 26 years of treaties and choices at UN local weather talks, regardless of coal being one of many key drivers of worldwide warming and $5.9 trillion of subsidies being given annually to coal, oil and gas.

The language in COP26’s closing resolution textual content, now generally known as the Glasgow Local weather Pact, sees international locations conform to “accelerating efforts” on the phase-out of “inefficient” subsidies. In a dramatic last-minute intervention, minutes earlier than the result was adopted, India proposed a watered-down model of the language on coal, altering “phasing down” of coal slightly than “phasing out.”

Regardless of a number of international locations expressing anger on the last-ditch transfer, the weaker textual content was formally adopted. COP26 president Alok Sharma stated he was “deeply sorry” for the way in which the ultimate minutes unfolded, and was visibly emotional.  The choice covers “unabated” coal, that means an exemption for coal when it’s mixed with carbon seize and storage.

The commitments made in Glasgow will disappoint many local weather campaigners for falling in need of placing the world on target to virtually halve emissions by 2030, the trail wanted to restrict warming to 1.5°C.

Consultants stated it was nonetheless a very good end result for one summit and a case of expectations being too excessive. “It’s not sufficient. However this can be a course of. I’d have cherished Glasgow to have fastened the issue, however it received’t and it was by no means going to,” says Stark. A path to a 1.5°C future is now “hanging by a thread” however “remains to be there, which is wonderful”, he provides.

Michael Jacobs of the College of Sheffield, who was beforehand an adviser to the previous UK prime minister Gordon Brown, says probably the most international locations might obtain at COP26 was to confess their 2030 plans weren’t adequate and conform to return subsequent yr with higher ones aligned to a 1.5°C trajectory. “They’ve carried out that,” he says.

Cash forged a giant shadow over the summit, after it emerged that wealthy international locations wouldn’t ship their promise of $100 billion of finance a yr to poorer international locations till 2023, three years late. Nations expressed their “deep remorse” that solely round $80 billion was delivered in 2019, 1 / 4 of which was for adapting to local weather change. Additionally they agreed to hash out a brand new plan within the subsequent three years for what a future local weather finance objective seems to be like past 2025.

Adaptation was a key difficulty that rose up the agenda at Glasgow, after being largely overshadowed by emissions cuts at previous UN local weather summits. This time, developed international locations agreed that by 2025 they need to double adaptation finance to about $40 billion a yr. And nations agreed to work out a brand new international adaptation objective in future talks.

The convention stopped in need of accepting a proposal by a gaggle of 77 creating international locations and China, which known as for a brand new fund for the highly-charged difficulty of ‘loss and injury’. That will have been step one to some type of monetary compensation from richer to poorer international locations for excessive climate and different local weather impacts similar to rising sea ranges. Nonetheless, nations promised to proceed speaking about funding for “loss and injury related to the adversarial impacts of local weather change”.

Nations additionally reached settlement on technical however necessary guidelines on the Paris Settlement which have proved intractable within the six years because the world’s first complete international local weather treaty was agreed. Chief amongst these are the foundations governing a brand new international carbon market beneath ‘article 6’ of the Paris accord, paving the way in which for a successor to a previous scheme known as the UN Clear Improvement Mechanism.

Different excellent gadgets within the ‘Paris rulebook’ have been ironed out, together with “frequent timeframes” for when international locations difficulty new carbon targets. That might be each 5 years for a brand new goal 10 years’ later, so 2025 for 2035, and so forth. Transparency guidelines over reporting of emissions cuts have been resolved too.

The ultimate choices have been gavelled by way of by COP26 president Alok Sharma this night after virtually a fortnight of talks in Glasgow. That official approval adopted three hours of many international locations’ delegates itemizing their combined emotions in regards to the closing deal: “it’s not good… however it does characterize actual progress” stated Tina Stege of the Marshall Islands. Negotiators had labored in a single day for a number of days in a row.

Earlier within the summit, international locations struck a sequence of voluntary aspect offers on halting deforestation, stopping worldwide financing for coal, blocking new oil and gasoline initiatives and curbing methane, a short-lived however highly effective greenhouse gasoline.

The convention was attended on the outset by 120 world leaders, together with US president Joe Biden and Indian president Narendra Modi, who introduced India would hit internet zero emissions by 2070. A number of different international locations together with Australia and Saudi Arabia additionally declared long-term internet zero objectives on the eve of COP26, that means about 90 per cent of world emissions at the moment are coated by a internet zero goal. “The shift within the long-term outlook has been completely dramatic,” says Stark.

Nations agreed that subsequent yr’s UN local weather summit might be held in Egypt.

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