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Glasgow, Scotland (CNN) -
Wednesday was a great day at the COP26 climate summit, with the first draft of a blanket agreement published.
The draft is a kind of wish list drawn up by the COP presidency and its final version will be negotiated between national delegates over the next two days.
Depending on who you ask, he is either "ambitious" or "a total failure."
The United States and China also made a surprise promise to work together to address the climate crisis.
This is what happened on Wednesday.
China-US surprise
USA
The US and China announced an agreement to increase their cooperative climate ambitions on Wednesday, just days before the end of the conference.
"There is more agreement between the United States and China than divergence, which makes it an area of enormous potential for cooperation," China's climate envoy Xie Zhenhua told a news conference.
"The publication of this joint statement shows once again that cooperation is the only option for both China and the United States. By working together, our two countries can achieve many important things that are beneficial not only to our two countries but to the United States. world in general ".
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At a press conference immediately after Xie, US special envoy for climate John Kerry said he was "pleased" with the agreement between the two countries.
Kerry said the US and China had two options: either leave COP26 without working together and leave "the world wondering where the future is going to be, clearly with a gap ... Or we can leave here with people working together. to increase ambition and start moving down a better path, "said Kerry.
"That is really the choice."
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Strong commitment to 1.5 degrees, but with little to back it up
The draft agreement includes the strongest language on the need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which would be a victory for the COP26 presidency given that some of the world's biggest polluters have shown, up to recently reluctant to commit to the goal.
While analysts welcomed the language, many were quick to point out that the rest of the deal actually falls short of the target.
Mark Maslin, a climate scientist at University College London, told CNN that the draft was "a bit loose."
"It recognizes that there is a great need to reduce emissions as quickly as possible by 2030 to reach the 1.5 degree temperature target. However, later in the document, it asks countries to submit new types of commitments, NDC they are all aligned to keep temperatures below two degrees. Therefore, the beginning and the end of the actual document do not match, "he said.
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Fossil fuel subsidies mentioned
The draft agreement also calls on governments to "accelerate the phase-out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies."
This is an important development, as so far no COP agreement has specifically mentioned fossil fuels.
"It is absurd that ... we are still paying taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars a year to encourage the production and consumption of fossil fuels," said Alden Meyer, a senior associate at E3G in a briefing.
"The first rule of thumb is that when you find yourself in a hole, you stop digging. And we are still digging the deepest hole by paying people to pollute and produce and use more carbon," Meyer said.
"It's crazy."
But there is no guarantee that the language on coal and fossil fuel subsidies will survive the next two days of negotiations.
Meyer said he hopes there will be "a big fight" on this before a final text is agreed.
"Saudi Arabia and other countries will come in and try to remove this paragraph," said Jennifer Morgan, CEO of Greenpeace International.
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Johnson pleads with the delegates
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is back in Glasgow after spending the last week in London, trying to get his party's latest political scandal off the front pages.
The prime minister has acknowledged that the climate negotiations are getting tougher as delegations close the final deal.
"Now is the time for everyone to come together and show the determination necessary to overcome the blockages," Johnson said in a speech at the conference.
"Here in Glasgow, the world is closer than it has ever been when it comes to signaling the beginning of the end of anthropogenic climate change," he said, asking delegates, "Will you help us do that? Will you help us? to seize that opportunity or will they get in the way? "
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Saudi Arabia backs off
Saudi Arabia is shaping up to be a major roadblock on the road to a substantial deal and the UK is desperately trying to get the kingdom to join.
Downing Street said Johnson spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday and that the two "discussed the importance of moving the negotiations forward in the final days of COP26."
In a speech, Saudi Arabia's energy minister called on the world to stop showing prejudice for or against specific forms of energy.
"It is imperative that we recognize the diversity of climate solutions and the importance of reducing emissions as stipulated in the Paris Agreement, without any bias for or against any particular energy source," said the Minister of Energy, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud.
Several experts familiar with the talks have said openly over the past week that the kingdom is blocking progress on the language around fossil fuels and 1.5 degrees.
Saudi officials have not responded to CNN's request for comment on the issues.
Jennifer Tollmann, Senior Policy Advisor at E3G, said the next 48 hours will be crucial and will show "whether ministers work together to dramatically increase ambition across the board, or give Russia, Saudi Arabia and Brazil a victory and lose signals. clear that all countries will have to return with more ambition in this decade. "
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Disappointing deal on cars
Some of the major players in the automotive industry became engrossed in the idea that COP26 could be the beginning of the end of the combustion engine era.
According to a statement released on Wednesday, the UK's COP26 presidency wanted governments, manufacturers and investors to promise to "work towards zero emissions of all new car and truck sales globally by 2040 and beyond. take, 2035 in the main markets ".
But the proposal was not signed by several key countries and companies.
Germany, China, Japan, South Korea and the United States did not sign the declaration.
Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW and Nissan also refrained from signing.
German Environment Minister Jochen Flasbarth said on Wednesday that Germany and other states "could have signed" the statement if the UK Presidency had not put up an "unnecessary barrier", referring to the fact that the agreement had no synthetic fuels take into account.
Still, there were some notable signatories.
Ford and General Motors agreed, as did Jaguar Land Rover Mercedes-Benz and Volvo.
Among the countries, states and cities that signed up were the United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, Kenya, India, the Australian Capital Territory, Catalonia, Atlanta, San Diego, New York, San Francisco and Seoul.
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Financial gap
The gap between the 'haves and the haves' is widening and the draft COP26 agreement is not doing enough to address the crisis, the director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Hansjoerg, said on Wednesday. Strohmeyer.
"We already have low levels of funding for the most vulnerable. We have a humanitarian assistance system that is at its limits. And with the current growth in the trajectory of global warming, the need will grow, those are the most vulnerable," he said.
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The draft agreement makes some strong points in a long section on the need to deliver $ 100 billion a year in climate finance to the developing world, a promise made by the world's richest countries more than a decade ago.
However, the text is very poor in detail.
"It is confusing and vague. The missed deadline for the $ 100 billion pledge is not recognized, and this is a key question from vulnerable countries," said Mohamed Adow, director of the Power Shift Africa climate think tank.
Walé Azeez and Chris Liakos of CNN in London contributed to this report.
Glasgow
