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Climate Conference in Glasgow
Photo: Phile Noble / REUTERS
The UN climate agency published a first draft of the political decisions that the countries are to take at the end of the COP26 summit on Wednesday.
Negotiators from almost 200 countries are now continuing to work on this basis.
A final agreement is to be reached on Friday if the summit ends on schedule.
The seven-page draft that is available to SPIEGEL concentrates on the core issues of global climate policy: It is primarily about financial aid for poorer countries, which should be supported in dealing with the effects of climate change.
For the first time, adaptation to climate change for these countries is mentioned in a separate paragraph in the upper part of the draft.
The topic is therefore given a high priority.
In addition, the draft recognizes demands from poorer nations for financial compensation for damage already caused by climate change.
The fifth paragraph of the draft, which is primarily about technology transfer, speaks of "considerably increased support" for developing countries.
The draft also contains concrete climate policy measures intended to limit the rise in temperature and calls on the countries to be more ambitious in reducing emissions.
It mentions the need to reduce emissions by 45 percent by 2030 compared to 2010 levels.
1.5 degrees are just a declaration of intent
The fourth paragraph on reducing emissions confirms the maximum 1.5 degrees mark, which should not be exceeded by the end of the century. "The effects of climate change with a temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius will be significantly less than with two degrees," it says. Efforts will be made to continue to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees - however, as in the Paris climate agreement, this is merely a declaration of intent. Because the higher temperature limit of less than two degrees is still mentioned.
Despite the promises made so far by the summit, the planet is still heading for a warming of 2.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to a report by Climate Action Tracker.
According to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will return to Glasgow on Wednesday, negotiators would work to turn promises into action and pave the way for climate targets to be met.
Whatever the outcome of the talks must be adopted unanimously by the nearly 200 nations participating in the Glasgow negotiations.
joe / Reuters