India rejected the clause calling for the “phase out” of coal-fired power
Negotiators from nearly 200 countries reached an agreement at the COP26 summit on Saturday aimed at preventing the potentially irreversible climate impacts and keeping the key global warming target alive. However, the last-minute change in watered down crucial language about coal.
The UN climate meeting in Glasgow has been described as humanity’s last and best chance to keep the all-important goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive. The world needs to cut global emissions by 45% by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C as inscribed in the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement,
Last-minute coal compromise disappoints many
Several countries and official said they were deeply disappointed by the change put forward by India to “phase down,” rather than “phase out” coal power, the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
After initial objections, opposing countries ultimately conceded to the change suggested by India, among the world’s biggest burners of coal. India defended its last-minute changes saying the revision reflected the “national circumstances of emerging economies.”
“India’s last-minute change to the language to phase down but not phase out coal is quite shocking,” said Australian climate scientist Bill Hare, who tracks world emission pledges for the science-based Climate Action Tracker. “India has long been a blocker on climate action, but I have never seen it done so publicly.”
Swiss Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said the change will make it harder to achieve the international goal to limit warming to 1.5 C since pre-industrial times.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said the governments had no choice but to accept India’s coal language change.
Reactions
“It’s weaker and compromised, but we see it as a bridgehead, a bit of a breakthrough,” said Greenpeace Executive Director Jennifer Morgan said. Some environmentalists welcomed the possibility of having fossil fuels explicitly mentioned for the first time in the climate pact.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned of an impending “climate catastrophe”. Guterres acknowledged the shortcomings of the agreement and said that “The #COP26 outcome is a compromise, reflecting the interests, contradictions and state of political will in the world” today. “Our fragile planet is hanging by a thread”, he warned, adding “we are still knocking on the door of climate catastrophe.”
Swedish environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg dismissed Saturday’s COP26 climate conference deal as “blah, blah, blah”.
US president Joe Biden said his administration’s Build Back Better framework “will be the largest effort to combat climate change in American history”.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson says “serious breakthroughs” have been made. “We’ve kept 1.5 alive and made huge progress on coal, cars, cash and trees,” he said.
