GLASGOW (Reuters) – COP26 negotiations are getting deep into the details, with government ministers now haggling over rules to govern carbon markets and payments to those most vulnerable to climate change.
On Tuesday, the official U.N. climate conference agenda will focus on how global warming disproportionately affects women. It will also feature more panels on climate science and environment ministers from a raft of countries will take the stage.
Delegates from poor nations will ramp up pressure on their wealthy counterparts to compensate them for climate-linked losses and damage, such as coastal damage due to sea level rise or destruction caused by climate-charged wildfires.
The demand stems from the agreed concept of “common but differentiated responsibilities,” enshrined in the original U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change brokered at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.
The idea is that developed countries must do more to help poorer nations, because rich countries are responsible for most historical emissions.
Cautious optimism has emerged that COP26 in Glasgow can clinch a global carbon market deal unlocking trillions of dollars of green investment. There is fear, however, that bad rules could amount to greenwashing, the appearance of action with little practical impact on global emissions.
Also on Tuesday, the think tank Climate Action Tracker will publish its analysis of how much warming the world is heading for, accounting for the emissions-cutting pledges made at COP26.
Last week, the IEA said had also crunched those numbers, with the result showing the temperature rise could be held to within 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels – as long as all of the promises were fulfilled quickly and in full.
(Reporting by Katy Daigle; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
