Latest COP26 draft deal maintains need for just transition away from fossil fuels

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The president of the UN climate summit in Glasgow said Saturday that phasing out coal was still part of the agreement text as negotiators pored over fresh proposals Saturday aimed boosting the world's efforts to tackle global warming.

"I've always said we want this to be a high ambition COP. That's what I heard yesterday in the plenary, and I hope colleagues will rise to the occasion," said Alok Sharma, president of COP26, as he arrived at the conference venue.

British officials chairing the talks released new draft agreements on Saturday after telling delegates from almost 200 nations late Friday to go and get some rest as the official deadline passed.

A proposal for the overarching decision retains contentious language calling on countries to accelerate "efforts towards the phase-out of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies."

But in a new addition, the text says nations will recognize "the need for support towards a just transition" â€" a reference to calls from those working in the fossil fuel industry for financial support as they wind down jobs and businesses.

Talks go into extra day

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that he believed "an ambitious outcome is in sight" at the talks, which have stretched into an extra day after two weeks of negotiations.

Some campaign groups said the current proposals were not strong enough.

"Here in Glasgow, the world's poorest countries are in danger of being lost from view, but the next few hours can and must change the course we are on," said Tracy Carty of Oxfam. "What's on the table is still not good enough."

Shortening emissions reduction cycle

In another proposal, countries are "encouraged" to submit new targets for emissions reduction for 2035 by 2025, and for 2040 by 2030, establishing a five-year cycle. Previously, developing countries were expected to do so only every 10 years.

The proposed agreement states that in order to achieve the 2015 Paris accord's ambitious goal of capping global warming at 1.5 C by the end of the century compared with pre-industrial times, countries will need to make "rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, including reducing global carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 relative to the 2010 level and to net zero around mid-century, as well as deep reductions in other greenhouse gases."

Scientists say the world is not on track to meet that goal yet, but various pledges made before and during the talks have brought them closer.

'Alarm and utmost concern' over impact

The latest draft agreement expresses "alarm and utmost concern that human activities have caused around 1.1 C of global warming to date and that impacts are already being felt in every region."

Divisions remained on the issue of financial support sought by poor countries for the disastrous impacts of climate change they will increasingly suffer in future â€" the United States continued to have deep reservations.

Progress was being made on the sticky issue of carbon markets, known as "Article 6," rules for which have eluded previous talks going back to 2015. The idea is to unleash the power of trading carbon reduction measures, with poorer nations getting money, often from private companies, for measures that reduce carbon in the air.

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It provides "strong" provisions to prevent double counting of offsets â€" a longtime point of contention â€" and allows about 100 million tons of carbon credits to be carried over from previous years and agreements, a "good result," said Environmental Defence Fund Vice-President Kelly Kizzier, a former European Union negotiator and expert on carbon market negotiations.

The Conference of Parties (COP) meets every year and is the global decision-making body set up in the early 1990s to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and subsequent climate agreements.

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