Hope reborn in Glasgow? China and the United States, the world’s leading emitters of greenhouse gases, announced on Wednesday November 10 a surprise agreement two days before the planned end of COP26. In this “joint declaration on strengthening climate action”, Beijing and Washington undertake, without very precise details, to “take reinforced measures to raise ambitions during the 2020s”, reaffirming their commitment to the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
The two main world powers, whose rivalry had seemed in recent months to spill over into the field of climate diplomacy, also pledge to work in Glasgow to “an ambitious, balanced and inclusive outcome on mitigation (lower emissions), adaptation and support” financial to poor countries.
This agreement has been hailed as “an important step in the right direction” by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. “Beyond the COP, it’s important for the world”, reacted the Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans.
Early Wednesday, after 10 days of discussions, the British presidency of the COP issued a first draft final declaration calling for strengthening and accelerating the pace of climate commitments by all countries to meet the objectives of the Paris agreement. This text has provoked mixed reactions, in particular from poor countries, which insist that the richest keep their aid promise.
The project calls on countries to “revise and strengthen” from 2022 national contributions which set their short-term commitments. It also encourages countries to “accelerate the exit from coal and fossil fuel financing”. Such an explicit mention of fossil fuels, responsible for most of the emissions, is unprecedented, and does not appear in the Paris agreement in particular. But it promises to be bitterly disputed until the conclusion of the final text, in particular by the producing countries.
On the burning issue of financing, the text “relieved with regret” the failure of developed countries to keep their promise to mobilize some $ 100 billion per year in climate aid to poor countries from 2020. The text will still be the subject of negotiations and may change by the end of the COP, scheduled for Friday but which may be extended.