In the last hours of COP26, the 26tha United Nations Conference on Climate Change, China and India joined together in defense of continued consumption of coal. Both rely heavily on the use of coal and argue that developing countries are not ready to eliminate this source of energy.
In the corridors of the conference, even negotiators from developing countries who would not be affected by the text agreed with the argument, in a political signal to the developed world that COP26 could not deliver a decision considered historic and successful without committing to the climate finance.
The mention of the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies in the text of the COP26 decision appeared in the draft published last Wednesday (10) and was considered historic — the reference has not appeared in a UN document since the Kyoto Protocol (1997), according to observers of the negotiations.
“COP26 urges countries to accelerate the phasing out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies,” said the text proposed by the COP26 presidency on Wednesday (10). However, there was doubt about the chance of the reference surviving the end of the negotiations.
Also on Wednesday, China announced to the United States a declaration with commitments that included the reduction of coal consumption by China in the second half of the decade.
In the final plenary of COP26, on Saturday afternoon (13), China said that it agreed with the decision, but discreetly suggested changing article 36 of the final text. “Certain expressions could follow the joint US-China statement,” the Chinese spokesman said.
Before the decision was adopted, however, India joined the demand, which led to a tense break in informal negotiations. It was in the halls of the plenary and outside the microphones that countries agreed to change the term “elimination” to “reduction” in the consumption of coal.
The decision’s historic paragraph, however, had already been watered down in the last draft, with changes that have been attributed by observers to the oil and coal industry lobby.
In the last version of the text, the phrase started to refer only to the consumption of “unbridled” coal —interpreted as a reference to the greater consumption of developing countries, compared to the more balanced energy matrix of developed countries. The reference to the elimination of energy subsidies from fossil sources was restricted to “inefficient subsidies”. The gaps allow the sector to continue operating with technologies sold as “cleaner and more efficient”.
Despite having completed the regulation of the Paris Agreement, COP26 ended with a climate of failure in the face of climate urgency. By avoiding committing to increase financing for climate action, the developed bloc generated a reaction among developing countries, which also did not present more ambitious emission reduction targets.
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