UN climate summit: new draft text weakens demand to phase out coal

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Coal-fired power plant in Boxberg, Saxony

Photo: Florian Gaertner / Photo library via Getty Images

In a new draft for the final declaration of the world climate summit in Glasgow, the demand for an exit from coal production has been significantly weakened.

The summit presidency published the document on Friday morning.

In an earlier version of the final declaration it was mentioned that the states should "accelerate the phase-out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels".

It's all about "inefficient" subsidies

But in the current version, this requirement sounds less clear.

The relevant paragraph reads: The Climate Change Conference »calls on the parties to accelerate the development, introduction and diffusion of technologies and the adoption of policies for the transition to low-emission energy systems, including through the rapid expansion of clean electricity generation and the accelerated phase-out from unchecked coal-based power generation and from inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels «.

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In the opinion of many observers, the emphasis on the "unchecked" coal-fired power generation and the "inefficient" subsidies in particular significantly weaken the explanatory power of the declaration.

Arab states, in which the extraction of oil and gas play a major role, had spoken out against the formulation on fossil fuels in the earlier draft.

Saudi Arabia, for example, has become rich from oil production and is apparently not ready to give up this income in the foreseeable future.

Other nations had also pushed for changes to the draft for the passage to fossil fuels.

The group of the so-called Like-Minded Developing Countries described the draft as unfair to poorer countries.

Further discussions on the wording of the final declaration are expected in the course of the day.

The end of the summit is likely to be postponed

The UN climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, is scheduled to end on Friday evening.

But it is likely that the negotiations will be extended into the weekend.

The approximately 200 participating states must officially decide together on the final declaration text.

The declared aim of the summit is to create and maintain options for limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial era.

On Thursday, UN Secretary General António Guterres warned the representatives of the participating states to be more ambitious and more willing to compromise in the fight against climate-damaging greenhouse gases.

vki / AP / Reuters / dpa