[ “This does not bring hope to our hearts, but serves as yet
another conversation where we put our homes on the line while those
who have other options decide how quickly they want to act to save
those who don’t,” ] [[link removed]]

COUNTRIES STRIKE DEAL AT COP26 CLIMATE SUMMIT  
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Sam Meredith
November 13, 2021
CNBC
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_ “This does not bring hope to our hearts, but serves as yet
another conversation where we put our homes on the line while those
who have other options decide how quickly they want to act to save
those who don’t,” _

COP26 President Alok Sharma (L) MP and Patricia Espinosa, Executive
Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
speak at the start of the stock taking Plenary on day thirteen of the
COP26 at SECC on November 12, 2021 in Glasgow,, Ian Forsyth | Getty
Images News | Getty Images

 

Negotiators from nearly 200 countries at the COP26 summit on Saturday
reached an agreement to try to prevent progressively worse and
potentially irreversible climate impacts.

The announcement comes several hours after the scheduled Friday
evening deadline.

Delegates had struggled to resolve major sticking points, such as
phasing out coal, fossil fuel subsidies and financial support to
low-income countries.
India, among the world’s biggest burners of coal, raised a
last-minute change of fossil fuel language in the pact, going from a
“phase out” of coal to a “phase down.” After initial
objections, opposing countries ultimately conceded.

In an emotional address to assembled delegates, the U.K.’s COP26
President Alok Sharma said he was “deeply sorry” for the way the
process had unfolded. “I understand the deep disappointment. It’s
also vital we protect this package,” Sharma said.

The U.N. meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, was billed as humanity’s last
and best chance to keep the all-important
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goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive. This temperature threshold refers
to the aspirational target inscribed in the landmark 2015 Paris
Agreement.

Keeping average temperatures from surpassing this level requires the
world to almost halve greenhouse gas emissions in the next 8 years and
reach net-zero emissions by 2050. It is critically important to
prevent the worst of what the climate crisis has in store.

The world’s leading scientists have warned the world has already
warmed roughly 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and the
latest projections, despite numerous pledges at the Glasgow summit,
show the world is on track for a rise of 2.4 degrees Celsius by the
end of the century.

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres had bluntly warned the
carbon-cutting pledges on the table during the final throes of the
marathon talks were “very probably” not enough to avert a climate
catastrophe. He told the Associated Press
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news agency that the goal of keeping 1.5 degrees Celsius alive was on
“life support.”

Climate activists and campaigners have been sharply critical of COP26,
describing it as an “exclusionary
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fortnight of talks centered on “business as usual and blah, blah,
blah
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“The road to 1.5 just got harder when these talks should have
cleared the way to making it a whole lot easier,” Rachel Kennerley,
climate campaigner of environmental group Friends of the Earth, said
in a statement Saturday.

Fossil fuel policy

The Glasgow Climate Pact is the first time the outcome of an
international climate summit has explicitly mentioned fossil fuels.
However, an earlier commitment to phase out coal and fossil fuel
subsidies was subsequently watered down to refer only to
“unabated” coal and “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies. India
then raised a last-minute intervention to amend the wording to replace
it with “phase down.”

Several countries expressed their grievances to this change and
environmental experts are deeply concerned
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the updated terminology creates a loophole to delay urgently needed
climate action.

An analysis published by Global Witness on Monday found there were
more delegates associated with the fossil fuel industry at COP26 than
from any single country. It raised serious questions about the
credibility of the talks, particularly because it is the burning of
fossil fuels that is the chief driver of the climate crisis.

Researchers have repeatedly stressed that the best weapon to tackle
rising global temperatures is to cut greenhouse gas emissions as
quickly as possible.

The two-week summit saw a blizzard of climate pledges designed to meet
the moment, with countries promising to end and reverse deforestation,
move away from coal and reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030.

The U.S. and China, the world’s two largest emitters, surprised many
by agreeing to work together this decade to prevent global heating
from surpassing 1.5 degrees Celsius. And a new first-of-its-kind
alliance was also launched with countries and subnational groups
committing to setting an end date to oil and gas use and halting
granting new licenses for exploration.

Business leaders and financial institutions, meanwhile, pledged to
invest more in “net zero-aligned projects.” This has since been
criticized, however, for missing the point on fossil fuels.
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Climate finance

Low-income countries arrived in Glasgow determined to secure
compensation for climate-linked “loss and damage
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U.N. to refer to the destruction already being inflicted on lives,
livelihoods and infrastructure.

Those on the frontlines of the climate crisis, which are the least
responsible for climate change, have long sought financial support
from high-income countries to compensate them for this damage. Rich
nations, such as the U.S., U.K. and European Union, have been
reluctant to accept liability.

The agreement falls short of setting up a fund to compensate countries
for climate-linked loss and damage. The G-77 group
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“extreme disappointment” at this omission.

Shauna Aminath, minister of environment for the Maldives, said on
Saturday: “For some, loss and damage may be the beginning of
conversation and dialogue, but for us, this is a matter of
survival.”

“This does not bring hope to our hearts, but serves as yet another
conversation where we put our homes on the line while those who have
other options decide how quickly they want to act to save those who
don’t,” Aminath said.

_—CNBC’s __Jessica Bursztynsky_
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report._

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