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Cop26 president declares ‘fragile win’ for climate despite watered-down coal pledges – live updates

November 14, 2021
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12.03am EST
00:03

That’s it from me, Samantha Lock, reporting to you from Sydney, Australia.

Nations will be asked to return next year to strengthen their targets on emissions cuts, which are so far inadequate, and to accelerate the phase-out of coal power and fossil fuel subsidies.

Make sure to follow along with all our Cop26 developments as reactions will no doubt continue to pour in.

11.41pm EST
23:41

Summary of key developments and reactions

After two long weeks of talks and negotiations, a deal has finally been struck that for the first time targets fossil fuels as the key driver of global warming, despite last-minute wrangling over coal objections.

The goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C, the key threshold of safety set out in the 2015 Paris agreement, may still be within reach. Key talking points included provisions on phasing out coal, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and providing money to poor and vulnerable nations.

The global community responded with both praise and disappointment as smaller island nations most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change fought to be heard and larger more developed nations agreed to take some compromises onboard.

  • India defended its last-minute revision to reject a clause calling for the “phase out” of coal-fired power. The nation’s environment and climate minister, Bhupender Yadav, said the revision reflected the “national circumstances of emerging economies.”
  • European Commission president Ursula don der Leyen declared the agreement “a step in the right direction”.
  • UK prime minister Boris Johnson said “serious breakthroughs” were made.
  • European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans said humanity must now “learn to live within planetary boundaries” while praising the ambitions made.
  • The UN secretary general Antonio Guterres urged those who may be disappointed in the agreements made to “never give up” on the fight for climate action. “I know you might be disappointed. But we’re in the fight of our lives and this fight must be won,” he said.
  • Cop26 president Alok Sharma called the outcome of discussions “a fragile win” while praising the “hard work” and “great cooperation” from negotiators, ministers and all the parties.
  • US president Joe Biden said his administration’s Build Back Better framework “will be the largest effort to combat climate change in American history”.
  • Amnesty International described the outcome a catastrophic failure and a betrayal to humanity.
  • Canada’s minister of environment and climate change Steven Guilbeault pledged to do more with “public and private sectors are accelerating their actions” in the fight against climate change.
  • Fiji’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama called the outcome a “compromise” and said the 1.5C target leaves Glasgow “battered, bruised, but alive”. The leader thanked Pacific negotiators for their “heroic effort” to secure a path away from coal and fossil fuel subsidies in the final deal.
  • Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, one of the countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change, described the deal as “not perfect” but acknowledged elements of the agreement are “a lifeline” for the country.
Delegates pose for a picture during the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, in Glasgow.

Updated
at 12.02am EST

11.16pm EST
23:16

Uncertainty whether Australia will update 2030 emissions target as required under Cop26 deal

Amy Remeikis

Amy Remeikis

A senior Australian minister has welcomed the summit outcome but sidestepped questions on updating the 2030 emissions target as required under the Glasgow Cop26 agreement and instead quoted Shakespeare.

Greg Hunt has refused to say whether Australia under a Scott Morrison government will update its 2030 emissions target as required under the Glasgow Cop26 agreement and instead quoted Shakespeare.

Australian foreign minister and emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor said in a joint statement on Sunday: “Australia’s 2030 target is fixed and we are committed to meeting and beating it, as we did with our Kyoto-era targets.”

However, Hunt dodged a series of questions when he appeared on the ABC’s Insiders program.

He said Australia “welcomed the outcome at Glasgow” as “important progress for the world” but would not answer questions on whether Australia would update its 2030 target next year.

Read the full story here.

11.06pm EST
23:06

Australia ‘let down our Pacific neighbours’, climate council says

Australia failed to rise to the challenge during Cop26 talks, the nation’s Climate Council, an organisation comprised of some of the country’s leading climate scientists, health, renewable energy and policy experts, has said.

Dr Simon Bradshaw, head of research at the organisation, says 140 countries lifted their game at Cop26 but Australia wasn’t one of them.

“The federal government showed up empty-handed to a pivotal moment in the fight for our future,” he said.

“They’ve let down our Pacific neighbours, as well as Australians who do not deserve to endure more frequent and severe bushfires, floods, droughts and heatwaves.

“As our allies and trading partners rise to the climate challenge, we’re stuck in a polluting past with a handful of countries including Russia and Saudi Arabia.”

Updated
at 12.08am EST

10.51pm EST
22:51

Mexico has voiced its disappointment at the new agreement, saying they were “sidelined” in the deal.

“We believe we have been side-lined in a non-transparent and non-inclusive process,” the nation’s envoy Camila Isabel Zepeda Lizama said in a statement to Reuters.

“We all have remaining concerns but were told we could not reopen the text … while others can still ask to water down their promises.”

However, the north American country said they would let the revised agreement stand.

10.45pm EST
22:45

India’s last-minute revision to reject a clause calling for the “phase out” of coal-fired power has been supported by the nation’s environment and climate minister.

Bhupender Yadav said the revision reflected the “national circumstances of emerging economies.”

“We are becoming the voice of the developing countries,” he told Reuters, saying the pact had “singled out” coal but kept quiet about oil and natural gas.

“We made our effort to make a consensus that is reasonable for developing countries and reasonable for climate justice,” he said, alluding to the fact that rich nations historically have emitted the largest share of greenhouse gases.

9.33pm EST
21:33

Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, one of the countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change, has described the deal as “not perfect” but acknowledged elements of the agreement are “a lifeline” for the country.

“This Package is not perfect. The coal change and a weak outcome on loss and damage are blows,” she said. “But it is real progress and elements of the Glasgow Package are a lifeline for my country.”

Stege has pushed for stronger climate action by campaigning with the High Ambition Coalition (HAC), a grouping at the UN talks comprising many of the poorest and most vulnerable developing countries.

“We are a small nation, but we have moral authority – our position on the frontline gives us that,” she said. “We need to raise our voice, as these changes will affect the whole world in time.”

Tina Stege
(@EnvoyRmi)

1/ This Package is not perfect. The coal change and a weak outcome on loss and damage are blows.

But it is real progress and elements of the Glasgow Package are a lifeline for my country. We must not discount the crucial wins covered in this package:

November 13, 2021

9.24pm EST
21:24

Fiji’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama has said the 1.5C target leaves Glasgow “battered, bruised, but alive”.

The leader thanked Pacific negotiators for their “heroic effort” at Cop26 to secure a path away from coal and fossil fuel subsidies in the final deal.

“The compromise we’ve struck will only count if nations now deliver,” he added.

Frank Bainimarama
(@FijiPM)

The 1.5-degree target leaves Glasgow battered, bruised, but alive.

Vinaka to our Pacific negotiators for a heroic effort at #COP26 to secure a path away from coal and fossil fuel subsidies in our final deal.

The compromise we’ve struck will only count if nations now deliver.

November 13, 2021

9.07pm EST
21:07

The biggest achievements to come from the deal

After more than two weeks of intense negotiations, here are the biggest achievements of the deal.

Governments have been urged to strengthen their targets to cut emissions of planet-heating greenhouse gases by the end of next year, rather than every five years, as previously required.

Targeting fossil fuels:

The pact for the first time includes language that asks countries to reduce their reliance on coal and roll back fossil fuel subsidies. The wording was contentious, though, with India requesting that the deal call on countries to “phase down”, instead of “phase out” unabated coal.

Payments to poor and vulnerable nations:

The deal made some headway on the demands of poor and vulnerable countries that wealthy countries responsible for most emissions pay up.
The deal, for example “urges developed country Parties to at least double their collective provision of climate finance for adaptation to developing country Parties from 2019 levels by 2025.”
It also, for the first time, made mention of so-called “loss and damage” in the cover section of the agreement.

Rules for global carbon markets:

Negotiators also closed a deal setting rules for carbon markets, potentially unlocking trillions of dollars for protecting forests, building renewable energy facilities and other projects to combat climate change.
Companies as well as countries with vast forest cover had pushed for a robust deal on government-led carbon markets in Glasgow, in the hope of also legitimising the fast-growing global voluntary offset markets.
Under the accord, some measures would be implemented to ensure credits are not double-counted under national emissions targets, but bilateral trades between countries would not be taxed to help fund climate adaptation – that had been a core demand for less developed countries.
Negotiators also reached a compromise that sets a cut-off date, with credits issued before 2013 not being carried forward. That is intended to ensure too many old credits don’t flood the market and encourage purchases instead of new emissions cuts.

8.47pm EST
20:47

Canada’s minister of environment and climate change has pledged to do more.

“We know we need to do more and that the world needs to do more. Canadians gave us a mandate to go further and faster in our fight against climate change and there is no doubt that we have our work cut out for us,” Steven Guilbeault said in a statement.

“As someone who has been at this for almost 3 decades, I will say that we haven’t and won’t be able to win every single battle in the fight against climate change. But I want Canadians to know that I have never seen more momentum or desire to beat climate change.

“The public and private sectors are accelerating their actions Canada is at the forefront and countries are working to keep 1.5C within reach. We can and we will pass down a planet to our kids and grandkids that is in better shape than how we found it. The fight continues in earnest and Canada will keep pushing.”

Updated
at 8.48pm EST

8.35pm EST
20:35

What is ‘loss and damage’ and is it included in the final deal?

The bitterly fought-over issue of compensation for poor countries over the destruction wreaked by the climate crisis, otherwise known as “loss and damage“, did not make it into the final deal.

Vulnerable and poor countries, which did little to cause the climate crisis, sought a commitment from rich nations to compensate them for this damage.

Although the deal did make some headway on the demands that wealthy countries responsible for most emissions pay up, developed countries have essentially just agreed to continue discussions on the topic.

The deal, for example “urges developed country Parties to at least double their collective provision of climate finance for adaptation to developing country Parties from 2019 levels by 2025.”

8.17pm EST
20:17

Activist groups respond, dismissing the deal as “weak” and “cunningly curated”.

Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, said: “It’s meek, it’s weak and the 1.5C goal is only just alive, but a signal has been sent that the era of coal is ending – and that matters.

“While the deal recognises the need for deep emissions cuts this decade, those commitments have been punted to next year. Young people who’ve come of age in the climate crisis won’t tolerate many more outcomes like this. Why should they when they’re fighting for their futures?”

Tanya Steele, chief executive at WWF, said: “This summit has seen the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C become the North Star guiding us all but a clear pathway is far from certain and we still have a long way to go.”

Gabriela Bucher, international executive director of Oxfam, said: “Clearly some world leaders think they aren’t living on the same planet as the rest of us. It seems no amount of fires, rising sea levels or droughts will bring them to their senses to stop increasing emissions at the expense of humanity.”

Rachel Kennerley, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “The road to 1.5 just got harder when these talks should have cleared the way to making it a whole lot easier.

“The UK government cunningly curated announcements throughout this fortnight so that it seemed rapid progress was being made … Here we are though, and the Glasgow get-out clause means that leaders failed to phase out fossil fuels and the richest countries won’t pay historic climate debt.”

Updated
at 8.19pm EST

7.58pm EST
19:58

Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter said that while the final text of the agreement is far from perfect, the message to Australia and other fossil fuel producers is clear.

“The momentum is in the right direction,” Ritter said.

“The task ahead is relentless pressure on the fossil fuel corporations and reckless governments such as Australia’s.”

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