Agreement reached on a tightrope, and to the downside, at the Glasgow climate conference, until the last moment hostage of India's refusal to quickly abandon coal for energy production.
All 197 countries of the United Nations have joined. But the agreement was reached by bowing to India's request to replace the term "phase out" with "phase down" on the use of coal for energy production: in essence, decrease in place of exit. At the request of India, the provision of funding to support the energy transition was also added.
And that it is a defeat is demonstrated by the emotional moment of COP26 president Alok Sharma, who barely held back tears as he apologized because the Glasgow negotiations ended with the passage in the draft on fossil fuels watered down.
"I apologize for the way the trial went, I am deeply sorry but it is important to protect this package," he said amid applause.
For the rest, the agreement maintains the priority objective of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees from pre-industrial levels: a big step forward compared to the Paris Agreement, which aimed more at staying below 2 degrees. Emissions cuts remain 45% by 2030 compared to 2010, and net zero emissions around the middle of the century. The draft also provides for a review by the end of 2022 of the decarbonisation commitments of the individual states.
Least developed countries denounce that the text does not include commitments for the $ 100 billion a year fund provided for by the Paris Agreement to help decarbonise. Nor is there any provision for a fund, loudly requested by developing states, to repair the damage and losses due to climate change. However they vote, even China does not veto. The only one is India, which in the end forces everyone to revise the agreement by taking the attacks of several countries that in the end said they were "disappointed" by this downward agreement.
And also Greta Thunberg, champion of the environmental movement "Friday for Future", said she was disappointed, according to which COP26 was only a "Bla, bla, bla". "The real work continues outside
