COP26 talks stumble on climate cash ‘cliffhanger’

Sleep-deprived COP26 negotiators on Saturday struggled to bridge deep divisions holding up a deal to deliver the emissions cuts and financial support needed to avert the accelerating disaster of climate change.

A new draft text, released deep into overtime by the Glasgow summit’s UK presidency, urged nations to accelerate efforts to phase-out of unfiltered coal and “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies.

Large emitters such as China, Saudi Arabia and Russia had tried to remove the mention of polluting fuels, according to delegates.

But after resistance from rich nations led by the United States and European Union, the draft text omitted any reference to a specific finance facility for “loss and damage” — the mounting cost of global warming so far — which has been a key demand of poorer nations.

The text noted “with deep regret” that wealthy nations had also failed to stump up a separate annual sum of $100 billion they promised over a decade ago, but said only that it would come by 2023.

Greenpeace International chief Jennifer Morgan told AFP that the language on fossil fuels “is far from what is needed but sends a signal — I dare countries to take that out of the text right now”.

“The US has to support the most vulnerable on the issue of loss and damage. They cannot avoid this issue any longer. Nor can the European Union,” she added.

“I would call on President (Joe) Biden to do what’s right, and support the most vulnerable in helping them deal with their losses.”

The US and EU delegations did not immediately respond to requests for a comment.