In the final stretch of the crucial Glasgow climate conference, the UN Secretary-General today denounced “hollow” promises to a world that continues to depend on fossil fuels, despite some encouraging evidence.
“Promises sound hollow when the fossil fuel industry continues to receive billions of dollars in subsidies (…) or when countries continue to build coal-fired power plants,” said Antonio Guterres, acknowledging “encouraging announcements”. of COP26 on 31 October.
Nearly 20 countries have pledged mainly to end funding for fossil fuel projects abroad by the end of 2022, nearly 40 countries have published a declaration of transition from coal to clean energy, and today, some countries have launched a coalition to exit oil and gas. natural gas. Progress has been welcomed by many NGOs, which, however, have emphasized the absence of countries that are large producers.
This issue of fossil fuels is one of the points of contention in the first version of the final decision prepared by the British Presidency of COP26, which encourages the “acceleration of coal emissions and the financing of fossil fuels”.
A reference to fossil fuels that some parties, mainly the European Union, insist on, but which is in danger of being unacceptable to the producing countries.
The rest of this draft text is not adopted unanimously, any other, and the negotiators of almost 200 countries will have to make great efforts by tomorrow, Friday at 18.00, and beyond.
“We continue to have a huge challenge ahead of us,” admitted COP26 President Alok Sarma. compromise “.
“As I said yesterday, people are looking at us and would like to see us work together and reach a consensus. And we can not disappoint them.”
Despite the new commitments that expire in 2030 and which were announced before and after the start of the COP, the world is heading for a “catastrophic” overheating of +2.7 degrees Celsius, according to the UN. Far from the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit the rise in temperature “far below” +2 degrees Celsius relative to the pre-industrial era, if possible + 1.5 ° C.
This worrying finding was echoed by more than 200 climatologists today in an open letter in which they essentially question whether the clear warnings of science have been heeded.
“COP26 is a historic moment for the future of climate, societies and ecosystems,” they said, calling for “immediate, strong, rapid, sustainable and large-scale action” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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