UK proposes climate finance plan as negotiators race against time

By Kate Abnett, Elizabeth Piper and Valerie Volcovici

GlasgowNovember 13 – On Saturday, negotiators continued talks HIM-HER-IT on the climate in Scotland, after two long weeks of wrangling, to try to strike a deal that would give the world a realistic chance of avoiding the worst effects of global warming.

Alok Sharma, President of the British Congress, said he hoped to COP26 https://www.reuters.com/business/cop will close on Saturday afternoon with an agreement among the nearly 200 nations present, ranging from coal and gas superpowers to oil producers and Pacific islands. levels.

A new draft agreement unveiled on Saturday, like previous versions, attempted to balance the demands of weak states, major industrial powers and those whose consumption or export of fossil fuels is vital to their economic development.

The UK has attempted to resolve one of its most thorny issues by proposing mechanisms to ensure that poorer countries eventually get more of the financial aid they have promised to prepare to manage the increasingly severe weather that is prevailing.

China, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, were among a group of countries that sought to prevent the final deal from including language in opposition to fossil fuel subsidies. , the main cause of global warming, two sources. to Reuters on Friday.

However, the new draft, published by the United Nations, continued to target fossil fuels, something no UN conference does. HIM-HER-IT The climate has to do so far.

He also urged rich countries to double funding for adaptation to climate goals by 2025 from 2019 levels, providing funding that was a major demand of small island nations at the conference.

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MaintainsLong live the The dead 1.5 grades

The overall goal of the meeting is to maintain the 2015 Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial levels.

Exceeding that limit would lead to extreme sea level rise and weather disasters, such as droughts, brutal storms and wildfires, far worse than the ones the world is already experiencing, scientists say.

But the national emissions cut commitments made so far will limit the average global temperature rise to just 2.4 degrees. Although there is little chance of that gap being filled in Glasgow, Sharma said he is hopeful for a final deal for COP26 It will pave the way for deeper cuts.

Climate change adaptation funds go mainly to the poorest countries and currently represent only a small part of the financing of the problem.

The United Kingdom said that a committee of HIM-HER-IT Next year’s reports should deliver the nearly $100 billion a year in climate finance that rich nations pledged for 2020 but failed to achieve, and governments meet in 2022, 2024 and 2026 to discuss climate finance.

He waits And Watch

US climate envoy John Kerry made a positive note when asked late Friday if he agreed with activist Greta Thunberg that COP26 It was a “festival going on as usual”.

He replied, “Obviously I don’t agree, and I think they’ll know when they see what’s going to happen.”

Kerry helped revive hopes at the conference when he announced, jointly with Chinese negotiator Xie Zhenhua, on Thursday that nations would redouble their efforts to conserve forests, which are essential to absorb and retain carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and reduce carbon dioxide production. One of the second most important greenhouse gases, methane.

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The agreement between the United States and China requires both countries to put aside mutual tensions over other political differences.

US President Joe Biden, who has pushed Congress to pass $555 billion in climate measures in the post-pandemic recovery program, will hold a virtual meeting with Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, Monday night US time, the White House reported Friday.

And the latest draft of what many hope will be the final Glasgow Agreement also maintains a key requirement for countries to make tougher climate commitments next year, rather than every five years as is currently required.

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