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Last-minute negotiations will close the UN climate conference with Reuters

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Delegates rested at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgown, Scotland, UK on 12 November 2021. REUTERS / Yves Herman / File Photo

By Elizabeth Piper, Valerie Volcovici and Jake Spring

GLASGOW (Reuters) – Negotiators marched among representatives of UN climate talks in Scotland on Saturday in a bid to give the world a chance to fight the worst effects of global warming, as the British host told them there were hours left.

Alok Sharma postponed a public meeting in the plenary hall, saying negotiators needed more time, but said he still planned to close the two-week COP26 https://www.reuters.com/business/cop conference, which is already over. during the day, later in the evening.

“Ultimately, what is being raised here is a balanced package, everyone has had the opportunity to have their say,” he said at the forum.

The latest agreement will require the unanimous consent of nearly 200 countries in attendance, from coal and gas-fired superpowers to oil producers and the Pacific Islands, which have been swallowed up by rising sea levels.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry was seen moving between talks with Chinese negotiator Xie Zhenhua, EU Commissioner Frans Timmermans and Sharma.

As in previous versions, the final draft of the conference sought to balance the demands of nations that are vulnerable to climate change, major industrial powers, and the consumption or export of fossil fuels that are essential for economic development.

In fact, it maintained a strong demand from nations to implement tougher climate commitments next year, more than once every five years, as they do today – recognizing that commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet are not close enough. .

“KEEP 1.5 ALIVE”

The main goal of the meeting is the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

Scientists say that exceeding this limit would result in extreme sea level rise and catastrophes, including extreme droughts, severe storms and fires that are far worse than what the world suffers.

But national commitments to limit greenhouse gas emissions – especially carbon dioxide from burning coal, oil and gas – would limit the global average temperature rise to just 2.4 Celsius.

While Glasgown will not close that gap, Sharma said it hoped the final deal would pave the way for deeper cuts.

China, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases today https://graphics.reuters.com/CLIMATE-UN/EMISSIONS/jnvwexaryvw/index.html and Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, included the language they wanted to avoid the final deal. two sources told Reuters on Friday that it was opposed to subsidies for fossil fuels.

However, Saturday’s draft, published by the United Nations, continued to separate fossil fuels – something the consequences of the UN climate conference have yet to achieve.

Britain tried to unblock the financial problem of climate, always one of the most thorny, by proposing mechanisms to make more financial aid available to the poorest nations in the end.

Developing countries say that rich nations, whose historical emissions are largely responsible for global warming, must pay more to help adapt to its effects and also reduce their carbon footprint.

MORE MONEY?

The draft called on rich countries to double funding for climate adaptation by 2025 from 2019 levels, providing funding that has been a key demand of small island nations in the conference.

Adaptation funds, in particular, go to the very poorest countries and currently take up only a small portion of climate finance.

Britain also said the United Nations Commission should report next year on 2020 to provide $ 100,000 billion in annual global climate finance that rich nations have promised but failed to meet. And he said governments should meet in 2022, 2024 and 2026 to discuss climate finance.

$ 100,000 billion a year is also a far cry from the real needs of the poorest countries, which could affect $ 300 trillion in adaptation costs by 2030 alone, according to the United Nations, in addition to economic losses due to crop failures or climate-related disasters.

Disasters that could not be prepared or adapted, such as rising sea levels, appeared to be a constant obstacle.

Vulnerable nations have for decades argued that rich countries owe them compensation for the “loss and damage” of these events.

But rich countries fear being held responsible for such disasters and opening the door to bottomless payments. As a result, the UN Climate Conference has not yet provided funding for the countries most affected by this heading.

On another issue, negotiators began to close a deal to set rules for carbon markets: mechanisms that put a price on emissions so that countries or companies can buy and sell “pollution permits” or credits to absorb emissions.

The new draft documents implementing Article 6 of the 2015 Paris Agreement have suggested progress on the three key points that have hindered agreement on the issue at the last two UN climate conferences.

Liberian Nellie Dokie, 37, who lives in Glasgow and is making a two-hour daily trip for congressional delegates for cooking, dared her first look at the main conference site https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/cop26 -last- hours-climate-negotiations-2021-11-12 Saturday.

“I want to be a part of history,” he said. “I played a small part.”



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