COP26 enters the extension phase and this Saturday a new draft agreement will be presented

Negotiations at the UN climate summit to stop global warming, which were officially due to end this Friday, will continue this Saturday and the presidency of COP26 will publish a new draft, sources from the negotiation have reported.

The main stumbling block in the negotiations refers to the concessions that the main emitters and rich countries are willing to make in terms of financing to developing nations to face the fight against climate change.

Also causing problems are the references in the text to the progressive abandonment of coal as a source of power generation and subsidies to fossil fuels.

It is not news that the climate summits are extended beyond the fortnight scheduled for negotiations. The previous event, held in Madrid in December 2015, was awarded the medal of being the longest summit in history, since it ended the following Sunday morning and surpassed the previous length record held by the Durban COP.

Several of the developing countries have requested more funding from developed nations to undertake the process of decarbonization and adaptation to climate change, and are asking for more financial support for the losses and damages they face due to the rise in sea levels and the rise in extreme temperatures.

In the plenary session this Friday afternoon, dozens of countries and regional representatives have criticized the drafts. Thus, the Kenyan representative has assured that the 1.5ºC target is “a matter of life and death”, while the United States special envoy on climate change, John Kerry, has insisted that one cannot “abandon the objective” of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC and has stated that spending money on fossil fuel subsidies is “insane”.

Along the same lines, the Executive Vice President of the EU, Frans Timmermans, has stated that the 1.5ºC tries to avoid a future for children and grandchildren that is unlivable. China, for its part, has shown its goodwill to support the COP26 deal, but has voiced its disagreement over the lack of details on how to achieve $ 100 billion annually for the poorest nations.

Closure of 370 coal plants and cancellation of 130 projects

The coal-related announcements and pledges made at the summit would mean the closure of at least 370 coal plants and the cancellation of 130 new plant projects.

This is confirmed by a study carried out by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) that has analyzed the impact of these announcements on the global coal chain.