COP26 draft text calls for tougher emissions pledges by 2022
Al JazeeraNegotiators from nearly 200 countries will work from the draft to strike a final deal before the summit ends on Friday. The first draft of the “COP cover decision” asks countries to “revisit and strengthen the 2030 targets in their nationally determined contributions, as necessary to align with the Paris Agreement temperature goal by the end of 2022.” The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, set the goal of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C. The head of Oxfam’s COP26 delegation, Tracy Carty, said the draft decision was “too weak.” “It fails to include clear and unambiguous commitment to increase the ambition of 2030 emission reduction targets next year to keep 1.5 degrees alive. Morgan also slammed the draft decision, saying “this is not a plan to solve the climate emergency.” “Vulnerable countries are fighting for their lives and developed countries need to listen to that,” she said. Gambia’s Environment Minister, Lamin B. Dibba, told Al Jazeera that developed countries are mostly responsible for “this climate mess.” “Gambia and other developing countries are trying to adapt to the situation, but adaptation cannot happen in the absence of resources,” Dibba said.