Francisco "A.J." Camacho
Queens Radio
November 13th 2021
In what continues the theme of Cops, but feeling especially appropriate among the constant delays and cancellations of Cop26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow blew past the original 6pm deadline. So, what happened yesterday, and what is going to happen?
Second draft of cover decision released
Early Friday, a second draft of the cover decision was released. To the surprise of many, the mention of fossil fuels – a potential first in any Cop agreement – survived feared adversity from China, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and others.
But climate advocates were not quick to rejoice as the language was watered down to read, “the phaseout of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels”. The qualifiers “unabated” and “inefficient” were not in the original draft.
Adaptation language strengthened, however. The new draft asks the global north to up their funding for climate adaptation in the developing world, reaching $100bn annually through 2025. This amounts to a doubling of current funding and a 25 per cent increase in pledged financing from rich nations to poorer ones to help adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Reactions to the second draft
I only attended three events yesterday, each concerned with the cover decision in some capacity.
At a press conference, YOUNGO – the representation in the UN for the youth climate movement – said they were “not satisfied with [the] result”. In particular, one spokesperson said they “want more finance” while another elaborated that “adaptation, loss, and damage” considerations were insufficient.
The Cop26 presidency held an informal stocktaking in the afternoon – an opportunity for delegations to state their positions on the draft. In general, delegations expressed contentment with the draft, but some added they would like to see changes. The Marshall Islands asked that “all fossil fuel subsidies” be phased out, rather than “inefficient” ones. Norway agreed they would “prefer” that change.
Saudi Arabia noted that all delegates agreed on limiting warming to 1.5C, but only disagreed on how to do it.
The EU delegation got rather personal, with European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans sharing a photo of his grandson and insisting we had to protect the world for the grandchildren of all delegates: “This is personal. This is not about politics… it’s not too late, so let’s get cracking.”
Continued work
After making friends with Costa Rica's ambassador to the UK and his wife (Yes, I say "friends") over Irn Bru and a sausage roll, we together entered a room to observe negotiations on the text.
By that point, the man representing the Cop presidency was knackered and self-aware. After stumbling on his words a few times, he laughingly attributed his mistake to his tiredness and the tedious revisions, re-revisions, re-re-revisions, etc. he had been doing for several hours.
Around this time, it became clear that there would be no agreement on Friday. Several countries had told their delegations to prepare for work Saturday. Journalists I heard from suggested negotiations would end either Saturday or Sunday, but would probably not go into Monday. A source familiar with negotiations told The Scoop that the text's language on coal and subsidies for fossil fuels was unlikely to change and provisions on climate financing would only endure minor adjustments.
The source also accused Brazil of refusing to agree on provisions related to Article six of the Paris Agreement. The Article, which remains unfinished, is intended to deal with a potential carbon market system that governments could coordinate on. It's considered by some to be the last potential avenue for meaningful change from Glasgow. The source believed Brazil was stalling the discussion on Article 6 as a bargaining chip in exchange for "something else," though did not elaborate on what that might be.
Though I depart Glasgow on Saturday, the story around Cop26 - and what it's legacy will be - is far from over.
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