But climate scientists and environmental groups criticized the draft for failing to reflect the urgency of the crisis facing the planet.
A draft UN climate summit on Wednesday urged countries to raise their emissions-cutting targets by 2022, three years ahead of schedule, as data suggests the world is set to limit warming to 1.5C. Was off track.
Wednesday’s text was the first indication of where nations are on day 10 of the COP26 talks in Glasgow, hosted by Britain as the key to achieving the most ambitious temperature target of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The text called on nations to “revisit and strengthen” their decarbonization plans by next year and said limiting heating to 1.5C “requires meaningful and effective action by all parties in this critical decade”. .
It said “rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions” were necessary to avert the worst effects of heating, which has already slammed countries around the world with severe floods, droughts and storms .
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According to an assessment of pledges by the United Nations, the latest decarbonization plans of countries presented under the Paris Agreement are expected to warm the Earth by 2.7C this century.
The 2015 agreement includes a “ratchet” mechanism that requires countries to update emissions plans every five years.
Many large emitters missed the 2020 deadline for submitting new schemes, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Vulnerable countries say the next deadline, in 2025, is too far to make the short-term emissions cuts needed to avoid catastrophic heating.
In what observers called a “significant first mention” of fuels fueling global warming, the draft summit called on countries to “phase out from coal and accelerate subsidies for fossil fuels”.
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Past climate summit decisions and the Paris Agreement itself do not mention fossil fuels, instead focusing on emissions.
A senior interlocutor told AFP He was convinced that mention of fossil fuels would appear “in some form” in the final text.
‘vague and ambiguous’
But climate scientists and environmental groups criticized the draft for failing to reflect the urgency of the crisis facing the planet.
“This draft deal is not a plan to solve the climate crisis, it is an agreement that we will all keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best,” said Jennifer Morgan, director of Greenpeace International.
“It is a humble request that countries possibly do more next year.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due back in Glasgow on Wednesday to check on progress.
The delegation arrived in Glasgow with a laundry list of controversies, including how to finance vulnerable countries’ fight against rising temperatures.
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Rich emitters promised a decade ago that they would provide $100 billion annually to help others green their grids and adapt to the changing climate.
Mohamed Addo, director of Nairobi-based think tank Power Shift Africa, said Wednesday’s draft was “vague and ambiguous” when it came to funding climate action.
He said the concrete commitment on funding from COP26 was “a specific demand from poor countries”.
Simon Lewis, Professor of Global Change Science at University College London, said the draft “acknowledges the vast gulf” between existing emissions plans and the 1.5C route.
“Of course, if developed countries do not deliver on their financial promises, negotiations could turn into disarray,” he said. AFP,
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