COP26 draft deal treads fine line to spur climate action
NEW PLEDGESThe COP26 conference has so far not delivered enough emissions-cutting pledges to nail down the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal, so the draft asked countries to upgrade their climate targets in 2022.
However, it couched that request in weaker language than a previous draft, and failed to offer the rolling annual review of climate pledges that some developing countries have pushed for.
It said the upgrade of climate pledges should take into account "different national circumstances", a phrase likely to please some developing countries, which say the demands on them to quit fossil fuels and cut emissions should be lower than on developed economies.
The document also spelled out that scientists say the world must cut greenhouse gas emissions - mostly the carbon dioxide produced by burning oil, gas and coal - by 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030, and to net zero by 2050, to hit the 1.5 degrees Celsius target.
This would effectively set the benchmark that countries' future climate pledges will be measured against.
FINANCEClimate finance continues to be a stumbling block.
Poorer countries are furious that wealthy nations have still not fulfilled a 12-year-old promise to give US$100 billion per year by 2020 to help them cut emissions and adapt to the worsening impacts of climate change.
The new draft expressed "deep regret" at the missed target, which rich countries now expect to meet in 2023, but did not offer a plan to make sure it arrives.
It did say that, from 2025, rich countries should double the funding they currently set aside to help poor countries adapt to climate impacts - a step forward from the previous draft, which did not set a date or a baseline.
It also broached the contentious topic of compensation for the growing losses and damage that climate change is inflicting on countries that had little part in causing it.
The draft pledges a new facility to address those losses, but does not specify if this would include new funding.
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