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As the climate summit in Glasgow approaches its closing session, the United Nations has issued A draft agreement late Wednesday that countries will use as a template for a global agreement on stronger action against global warming.
However, major obstacles remain at the conference, which is scheduled to end on Friday.
The draft calls on countries to “reconsider and strengthen” their plans to reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases. And it’s asking rich countries to “urgently increase their climate finance supplies” to help developing countries adapt to global warming.
But the draft did not have exact dates or enforcement mechanisms. That’s why around 200 countries now need to come up with details and agree on who will pay the bill.
By tradition, a final agreement requires the signing of each party. If any country objects, the talks could be deadlocked. And each country brings its own often competing interests. Faced with the imminent threat of rising seas like the Maldives, small island states want all countries to cut emissions as quickly as possible. Oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and Russia are not keen to phase out fossil fuels quickly. And big developing countries like India are waiting for more help in the transition to cleaner energy.
Our team in Glasgow will follow the talks live for the rest of the week. You can do Follow Wednesday sessions here.
Numbers: One of the main goals at the climate conference is a global agreement to keep the average global temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit compared to pre-industrial levels. Beyond this threshold, scientists say, the likelihood of deadly heat waves, drought, wildfires, flooding and biodiversity collapse increases sharply. The planet has already warmed by 1.1 degrees Celsius.
Trust, but verify: Satellites can be used to help identify whether nations are meeting their greenhouse gas commitments.
A deal to phase out petrol cars
At least six major automakers and more than two dozen national governments pledged on Wednesday to try to phase out sales of new petrol and diesel-powered vehicles worldwide by 2040 and in “leading markets” by 2035.
Automakers that signed the commitment included Ford, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors and Volvo. Together they accounted for about a quarter of global sales in 2019.
“While we need to make sure they meet these commitments, it’s really important,” said Margo Oge, a former US air quality official who now advises both environmental groups and auto companies. “This really tells us that these companies and their boards are recognizing that the future is electric.”
Why is it important: Transportation accounts for roughly one-fifth of humanity’s carbon dioxide emissions, and just under half of that comes from passenger vehicles such as cars and pickup trucks.
USA did not participate: Transport secretary Pete Buttigieg said the Biden administration’s “focused on what we do at home”
Looking to the future: Electric truck and pickup truck maker Rivian goes public and has set a stock price that adds value to the company. approximately $70 billion.
Join us in Glasgow
The New York Times Climate Center is still going strong on the sidelines of the UN climate conference. Thursday sessions will cover sports, meat consumption, girls’ education and more. See the full program and watch the discussions for free.
From the opinion section
What Africa needs right now: World leaders must seize the moral obligation Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Nobel Peace laureate and former president of Liberia, writes in an opinion article and is committed to taking action on climate change.
It’s all about the cold, cash: New electricity generation plans in developing countries will not meet global climate targets, writes Jeffrey Ball, a lecturer at the Stanford University School of Law.
Huge gender and generation gap at COP26
The Glasgow talks began with more than 130 presidents and prime ministers posing for a group photo in a century-old museum. There were less than 10 women. Their average age was over 60.
The first week of the talks ended with violent protests by thousands on the streets of Glasgow. Friday’s march was led by young climate activists, many of whom are women, and some of them are old enough to vote in their country. They accused world leaders of wasting the little time left to protect their future.
Bookmarks of the first week of the talks appeared a widening divide that threatens to grow further in the coming weeks and months.
Video: more than that 100,000 demonstrators marched In Glasgow, according to protest organizers.
Numbers: Top leaders set targets for 2030 at the earliest. In some cases, they set goals for 2060 and 2070, when many of today’s activists will reach retirement age.
quotation: “Future generations will judge us with an anger and resentment that dwarfs any of today’s climate activists,” British Prime Minister Johnson said in the opening speech of the conference.
Who will continue to use fossil fuels and for how long during the transition to clean energy? That’s one of the biggest questions at COP26. A rapid transition to renewable energy is crucial in the global fight against climate change.
But not only is this particularly costly in poor countries, many African countries have an abundance of natural gas or other fossil fuels. Also, Sub-Saharan Africa contributes about 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, among the lowest regions in the world.
“African countries are the receiving end of this problem. “It’s the bigger emitters that must have the responsibility to cut it,” said Titus Gwemende, Zimbabwe-based climate director for the Open Society Foundation. “We must be sensitive to history”
This is the first time that some African leaders and activists are vocally opposing a faster return to renewable energy for their country. Instead, they’re pushing for a slower transition to embrace continued reliance on fossil fuels, particularly natural gas, which burns cleaner than coal or oil but still pumps planet-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
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