The first week of the Glasgow Climate Change Conference saw negotiations take center stage on Wednesday, 3 November, after two days of speeches and announcements from world leaders. Subsidiary bodies were required to conclude their work by Saturday, 6 November. The second week will feature another more political phase as ministerial dialogues begin.
Intense consultations took place throughout the week on several major agenda items, such as transparency, finance – including the process for a new collective quantified goal on climate finance – and Article 6 (cooperative approaches). On Saturday evening, 6 November, the closing plenaries of the SBSTA and the SBI adopted most decisions and referred Article 6, transparency, adaptation, response measures, and common time frames to the second week of the Glasgow Climate Change Conference.
Among other issues highlighted during the ENB COP 26 mid-point webinar:
- the negotiations on the collective quantified goal on climate finance are seeking to set up a process for deciding what the goal will be;
- a global goal on adaptation is on the agenda for the first time;
- the negotiators on Article 6 are optimistic that they will be able to reach an agreement by the end of the COP although ministers are likely to have to get involved with some outstanding issues, which include trading mitigation credits, whether a portion of the trades will be used for adaptation, corresponding adjustments, safeguards for human rights and indigenous peoples, emissions removals, and non-market based approaches; Continue reading