London Thanasis Gavos
Mixed reactions have been sparked by the latest, third draft of the text of the decisions of the United Nations climate conference COP26, which continues today in Glasgow, in an extension of the original program that envisaged the end of the conference on Friday night.
Environmental groups such as Greenpeace and political commentators point to the extremely positive and somewhat unexpected retention in the text as a reference to the “phasing out of unrestricted carbon and inefficient fossil fuel grants”.
This phrase calls on countries not to allow the release of hazardous pollutants in the event of the use of coal for energy production, e.g. by capturing carbon dioxide emissions and stop funding fossil fuel projects, unless this is deemed necessary for the benefit of poorer communities.
The inclusion of this petition is considered important because if adopted it will be the first time that fossil fuels are mentioned in a similar agreement in the context of a United Nations conference. Countries such as Saudi Arabia and Australia are thought to have tried to mitigate or even remove the reference altogether.
An additional phrase in this paragraph recognizes the need for “support for a fair transition”.
The request to the governments to present “strengthened” national plans for the reduction of pollutant emissions by 2030 is also maintained.
Many environmental organizations, however, condemn the new draft decision as inadequate or even “treacherous” to developing countries as it does not include a specific commitment to establishing a financial mechanism to address the existing damage caused by climate change.
The new proposed text of the decisions notes “with great concern” that the goal of financing developing countries with $ 100 billion a year from developed countries has not been achieved.
It also calls for doubling economic commitments by developing country governments, as well as a commitment to high-level climate finance meetings in 2022, 2024 and 2026.
According to the new schedule set by the British presidency of COP26, an informal plenary session will be held at noon with brief positions of the negotiating teams and if a final agreement is reached it will be ratified in a new formal plenary late in the afternoon.
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