In Draft Text, COP26 Urges Curbs On Coal And Faster Climate Action

A UN climate summit text on Saturday urged nations to accelerate the phase-out of unfiltered coal and “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies, after large emitters tried to remove the mention of polluting fuels. 

The text, which comes after two weeks of frantic negotiations at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, omitted any reference to specific finance for “loss and damage” — the mounting cost of global heating so far — which has been a key demand of poorer nations.

The mention on Saturday of fossil fuels was weaker than a previous draft, which called on countries to “accelerate the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels”.

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The new version, meanwhile, called for “accelerating efforts towards the phase-out of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.”

It also called for “recognising the need for support towards a just transition” — how developing nations still reliant on fossil fuels for power are assisted to decarbonise.

The texts also called for nations to accelerate their emissions cutting plans and submit new ones by the end of 2022 — three years earlier than set out in the Paris Agreement.

But it failed to allocate dedicated cash specifically for loss and damage, instead reiterating “the urgency of scaling up action and support” for vulnerable nations.

AFP