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COP26: The Report
For the past fortnight, climate talks have turned Glasgow into an international hub of activity, but as the summit has come to a close and the 25,000 attendees have returned to their home countries, nearly 200 countries have now agreed to the ‘Glasgow Climate Pact.’
This text is the most important document to emerge from the COP26 climate summit, with the decisions having legal force in the context of the Paris Agreement.
After two weeks of negotiations, talks and pledges, 196 countries have now committed to ‘phase down’ unabated coal.
Previous versions of the draft text were calling for the ‘phase-out’ of coal, however, in the hour before the closing plenary session there was a frantic last-minute decision among ministers to change this to the ‘phase-down’ of coal. China and India, the two biggest producers, consumers and importers of coal were the ones calling for this change.
Campaigners, politicians, activists and charities have warned that this language change weakens the international commitment to getting rid of coal.
COP26 president Alok Sharma offered his apologies for the late wording changes, he said: ‘May I just say to all delegates I apologise for the way this process has unfolded. I also understand the deep disappointment but I think, as you have noted, it’s also vital that we protect this package.’
COP26 has been and gone, but what has it achieved? Paula Hewitt, President of ADEPT, talks about the recent conference and looks at the next steps for local authorities.
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