Developed countries urged to double climate aid as COP talks spill into Saturday

Developed countries urged to double climate aid as COP talks spill into Saturday

The newest climate agreement draft has just been released by the UN after COP26 negotiations surpassed their Friday deadline.

This is the text international delegates will negotiate later today.

The “CMA” is a proposal to meet the obligations of the landmark Paris Agreement, and is an abbreviation of the “Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement” in 2015.

Thursday’s initial draft urged countries “to accelerate the phasing-out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels”.

This specific reference to fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal, was new for a UN climate document.

Friday’s updated draft shifted tack, asking that countries speed up their  transition to “clean” energy, “including by rapidly scaling up clean power generation and accelerating the phaseout of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels”, and this morning’s new draft has kept this element, despite the reported protests of nations including Australia and Saudi Arabia.

Additions to this clause include “recognising the need for support towards a just transition”.

It says countries must improve their 2030 emissions-cutting goals by the end of 2022 in order to keep global temperature rise to  “well below 2C” or 1.5C depending on the country’s climate.

The latest draft also calls on developed countries double their joint “climate finance” from 2019 levels by 2025, in order to aid less economically developed nations adapt to the changing climate.