Alok Sharma, left, chairman of the COP26 summit, attends the stocktaking plenary session at the United Nations Climate Summit in Glasgow.
Nearly 200 countries on Saturday ratified a deal aimed at keeping a key global warming target alive, but it had a last-minute change that undermined critical language about coal.
Several countries, including small island states, said they were disappointed with the changes India encouraged to “phase down” instead of “phase out” coal electricity, the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our fragile planet is hanging by a thread,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.
“We are still knocking on the door of climate disaster.”
After two weeks of UN climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, nation after nation complained about how the deal didn’t go far or fast. But he said it was better than nothing and provided incremental progress if not success.
Finally, by setting aside rules for the international trade of carbon credits, and asking big polluters to come back next year with better pledges to cut emissions, coal is set aside, albeit weakly, by the summit. broke.
But domestic priorities, both political and economic, again deter nations from fasting, major cuts that scientists say are needed to keep warming below dangerous levels that could lead to extreme weather and rising seas capable of eroding some island nations. will produce.
Prior to the Glasgow talks, the United Nations had set three criteria for success, and none of them were achieved. The United Nations’ criteria include halving carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, $100 billion in funding from rich countries to the poor, and ensuring that half of that money is used to help the developing world adapt to the worst effects of climate change. goes to help.
“We didn’t achieve these goals at this conference,” Guterres said. “But we have some building blocks for progress.”
Swiss Environment Minister Simonetta Somaruga said the change would make it harder to limit warming to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) from pre-industrial times – the more stringent limit set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
US climate envoy John Kerry said governments had no choice but to accept India’s coal language change: “We would not have had an agreement if we had not done so.”
But he insisted the deal is good news for the world.
“We are really closer than ever to escaping climate chaos and achieving clean air, safe water and a healthier planet,” he told a press conference later.
Several other countries and climate campaigners have criticized India for demands that undermine the final agreement.
Bill Hare, an Australian climate scientist who tracks world emissions pledges for the science-based Climate Action Tracker, said: “India’s last-minute phasing out of coal but not phasing out coal is quite shocking.” “India has long been a blocker on climate action, but I have never seen it publicly.”
Others approached the deal with a more positive outlook. In addition to the revised coal language, the Glasgow Climate Treaty included substantial financial incentives to nearly satisfy poorer countries and resolved a long-standing problem to pave the way for carbon trade.
The agreement also states that countries with major carbon pollution must come back by the end of 2022 and submit strong pledges to cut emissions.
Negotiators said the deal protected, though barely, the broader goal of limiting Earth’s warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century. The planet has already warmed by 1.1 °C (2 °F) compared to pre-industrial times.
Governments used the word “progress” more than 20 times on Saturday, but rarely used the word “success” and then mostly they came to a conclusion, not about the details in the agreement. Conference president Alok Sharma said the deal promotes “progress on coal, cars, cash and trees” and “something meaningful for our people and our planet.”
Environmental activists were measured in their non-glaring assessments released before India’s last-minute changes.
“It’s humbling, it’s weak and the 1.5C target is only alive, but has sent a signal that the coal age is coming to an end. And it matters,” said Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, United Nations A veteran of climate negotiations known as the Conference of the Parties.
Former Irish President Mary Robinson, speaking for a group of retired leaders called The Elders, said the agreement reflects: the agreement “represents some progress, but nowhere near enough to avert a climate disaster … people Will see this as a historically shameful humiliation of duty.”
Indian Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav argued against the provision for phasing out coal, saying that developing countries “entitled to responsible use of fossil fuels”.
Yadav attributed global warming to “unstable lifestyles and dysfunctional consumption patterns” in rich countries.
After Yadav first raised the specter of changing the language of coal, a dismayed EU vice-president Frans Timmermann, the EU’s climate envoy to 27 countries, begged the negotiators to unite for future generations.
“For heaven’s sake, don’t kill the moment,” begged Timmerman. “Please adopt this lesson so that we can bring hope to the hearts of our children and grandchildren.”
Helen Mountford, vice president of the World Resource Institute think tank, said India’s demand may not matter as much as feared because the economics of cheaper, renewable fuels are making coal increasingly obsolete.
“Coal is dead. Coal is being phased out,” Mountford said. “It’s a shame they reduced it.”
Kerry and several other negotiators said good agreements leave everyone a little unsatisfied and that countries had more work ahead of them in the years to come.
“Paris built the arena and Glasgow started the race,” said the veteran US diplomat. “And fired from the starting gun tonight.”
Chinese negotiator Zhao Yingmin echoed that sentiment.
“I think our biggest success has been finalizing the rulebook,” Zhao told the Associated Press. “Now we can start implementing it and bring it to the consensus we’ve achieved.”
Among those who highlighted the cost of the failure was Maldivian Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Technology Aminath Shouna.
To stay within the warming limits of countries agreed in Paris, Shauna said, the world must essentially cut carbon dioxide emissions in half over 98 months—a formidable task.
“The difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees is a death sentence for us,” she said.
Egypt’s Environment Minister Yasmin Fouad Abdelaziz said next year’s talks at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh will focus on aid and compensation for poor countries.
When the interlocutors exited the final session after congratulating themselves, they passed a young lone demonstrator, sitting as silent as blood red, who said: “We are watching.”
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