the times | Thursday November 11 2021 13News
in the right direction
to be acceptable to countries such as
China, Russia, Brazil and Saudi
Arabia, which have submitted weak
2030 targets to the United Nations.
The reference to the “temperature
goal” is ambiguous as the agreement
contains two goals: to limit warming
to “well below 2C” and to “pursue
efforts” to limit it to 1.5C.
Countries most vulnerable to
climate change want new national
targets that are consistent with 1.5C
but China, which plans to carry on
increasing its emissions this decade,
has argued that “well below 2C” is
the main goal.
The text also “invites” the UN
secretary-general to organise
another summit and suggests a date
of 2023. Waiting two years seems at
odds with the repeated references
elsewhere to the “urgency” of acting
on climate change.
The most contentious paragraph
in the agreement may be one that
refers to accelerating the phasing-
out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies.
Such language has never before
appeared in the final text at a UN
climate conference.
It is likely to be strongly resisted
by countries such as China, India,
Russia and Saudi Arabia, whicheach spend billions of pounds a year
subsidising the production and
consumption of fossil fuels.
It is possible this reference may be
traded away in return for
strengthening other aspects,
including climate finance for
developing countries.
The text contains strong language
on the need for developed countries
“to at least double” the amount of
private and public funding to help
poorer nations to adapt to protect
themselves against the impact of
climate change. Only about a fifth of
the £60 billion in climate finance
provided in 2019 was for adaptation
measures, with the rest on initiatives
to cut emissions.
The text is weaker on how to
increase climate finance. African
nations say developing countries
need £520 billion every year from
2025 to help to adapt.
The prime minister said in
September that Cop26 needed to be
“a turning point for humanity”. If
the wording of this draft survives
fairly intact and becomes the final
“Glasgow decision”, Johnson can at
least claim that Cop26 took a few
faltering steps towards safeguarding
our children’s future.The UK will today snub an initiative at
Cop26 led by Denmark and Costa Rica
under which countries will agree to set
an end date for exploring and extract-
ing oil and gas.
At least eight countries are expected
to join the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance
and commit to stop issuing exploration
licences or take other initiatives to cut
oil and gas production.
The absence of the UK from the
launch of the alliance will prompt ques-
tions about claims made by Boris John-
son to be leading the global transition to
net-zero emissions. The UK has focus-
ed at Cop26 on trying to persuade
countries to follow its lead by phasing
out coal-fired power stations.
Denmark, one of the EU’s biggest oil
producers, decided last year to cancel
its latest auction of oil exploration
licences and to end production from
wells operating under existing licences
by 2050.
A Danish government source said
that it had tried repeatedly to persuade
the UK government to join the alliance
and was disappointed that it had re-
fused to do so.
A source at the Department for Busi-
ness, Energy & Industrial Strategy said
that the UK had “no plans to join the
alliance”. The department has said that
future licensing rounds for oil and gas
exploration would be accompanied by a
“climate compatibility checkpoint”.
The prime minister has come under
pressure to block extraction from a new
oilfield off Shetland but the govern-
ment has argued that it is not a new
licence, with the permission to explore
the area for oil having been granted in
2001.
When asked about the alliance at
Cop26 yesterday, Johnson said: “Wecop26 at a glance
Coal Twenty-three nations
have made new
commitments to phase out
coal power, including
Vietnam, South Korea,
Egypt, Spain and Nepal.Forests More than 100
countries have pledged to
“halt and reverse”
deforestation by 2030. The
Glasgow Leaders’
Declaration on Forests and
Land Use is backed by
£14 billion of public and
private money, which will
mainly help to protect the
Amazon.Methane More than 100
countries have signed adeal to cut methane
emissions by 30 per cent by- The pledge could
reduce global warming by
0.2C by 2050. The three
largest methane emitters —
China, India and Russia —
have not signed. 450 global
companies, with
$130 trillion or 40 per cent
of the world’s financial
assets, have committed
themselves to aligning with
the Paris agreement’s goals,
including limiting global
warming to 1.5C.
Cars A group of nations,
companies and cities have
committed to phasing out
fossil-fuel cars and vans
globally by 2040 and by
2035 in leading markets.
Ford, GM, Mercedes, Jaguar
Land Rover, Volvo and
China’s BYD were among
manufacturers which signed
the Glasgow Declaration on
Zero Emission Cars and
Vans. Volkswagen, BMW
and Toyota declined to sign.
A total of 24 countries,
including India, Canada,Poland and the Netherlands
signed the UK-led
declaration.Helping South Africa
switch to green energy
A group including the US,
EU and UK agreed to
provide $8.5 billion to help
South Africa switch from
coal to green energy, which
could prevent 1.5 billion
tonnes of carbon emissions
over the next 20 years.New emissions targets
India has promised to reach
net zero emissions by 2070.
Nigeria has pledged to
reach net zero by 2060,
Vietnam by 2050 and Nepal
has moved its goal forward
to 2045. Ninety per cent of
the global economy is now
covered by net-zero
commitments.Goals yet to be achieved
Ratcheting up countries’
emissions targets
Negotiators are considering
proposals for countries to
submit new, moreambitious climate targets
by the end of next year.
They are currently due to
submit new targets in 2025
but the Climate Vulnerable
Forum, which represents 48
nations facing the greatest
impacts of climate change,
wants annual updates.Carbon markets A “rule
book” for carbon offsetting
would allow wealthy
countries to meet climate
targets partly by paying
developing nations to take
additional actionClimate finance Closing the
funding gap: Developed
countries promised
$100 billion a year from
2020 to help poor nations
respond to climate change.
They missed the target last
year.Transparency Countries
have yet to agree rules on
reporting progress on
reducing emissions to give
confidence that they are
meeting their pledges.Pledges
powered
by a desire
for change
News
as emission targets fall short
University of the Arts in London show their true colours at a parade for climate justice at their Chelsea campus yesterdayMARTYN WHEATLEY/I-IMAGESUK opts out of
Danish alliance
will look at what Denmark and Costa
Rica are proposing and would certainly
encourage everybody to move beyond
coal and move beyond hydrocarbons.”
He added: “What we want to do is
move beyond hydrocarbons complete-
ly in the UK and do it as fast as possible.”
A spokeswoman for the energy de-
partment said: “While the UK’s reliance
on fossil fuels continues to fall, there
will continue to be ongoing but dimin-
ishing need for oil and gas over the
coming years while we ramp up renew-
able energy capacity.
“The UK will continue to work with
international partners on supporting
the transition away from fossil fuels
towards clean energy so we can create
jobs, build new industries and drive
economic growth.”
The International Energy Agency,
an autonomous intergovernmental
organisation based in Paris, said in May
that there could be no new oil and gas
exploration projects from this year if
global warming were to be limited to
1.5C.
Rebecca Newsom, the head of poli-
tics at Greenpeace UK, said: “Countries
agreeing to phase out oil and gas is yet
another nail in the coffin for the fossil
fuel industry and it’s clear that fossil
fuels are on their way out.”
She added: “For this initiative to be
effective, many more countries need to
join and make firm commitments in
their national policies to rule out all
new fossil fuel projects and permits
immediately.
“We need to see much more leader-
ship from the most developed coun-
tries, including the UK as host of
Cop26, to make sure that the final text
agreed at Glasgow commits to phase
out fossil fuels as soon as possible and
secure a just transition to renewable
energy.”Ben Webster