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Climate conference in Glasgow: how much coal is allowed?
Photo: Christoph Soeder / dpa
At the UN climate conference in Glasgow there are signs of an agreement to phase out coal and accelerate climate protection measures.
The current draft of the COP26 framework decision continues to call for states to turn away from coal and subsidies for fossil fuels - albeit in a further weakened form.
In addition, the new negotiating texts continue to call on the states to review their national climate targets by 2022 instead of by 2025.
The plenum of around 200 states is now discussing the draft.
The climate summit is thus being extended.
Conference leader Alok Sharma said he hoped to reach an agreement that afternoon.
Originally, the two-week conference was supposed to be concluded on Friday.
A balance between the countries particularly affected by climate change - large industrialized nations and those states that are particularly dependent on the export or consumption of fossil fuels - is particularly problematic.
Greenpeace welcomes formulations on coal, gas and oil
China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, belong to a group of countries that want to prevent subsidies for fossil fuels from being rejected.
Despite the opposition, the latest draft of the final declaration also includes, for the first time in 25 years, the demand to get out of coal worldwide and to cut at least "inefficient" subsidies for oil, gas and coal.
The head of Greenpeace Germany, Martin Kaiser, said that the formulations on coal, gas and oil were "completely new territory" and should therefore be welcomed.
The overarching goal of the climate summit is to make it possible to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which was agreed in Paris in 2015, compared to the pre-industrial level.
Scientists warn that exceeding this limit would trigger extreme sea level rise and catastrophic weather extremes.
The commitments made by the individual states so far in Glasgow would, according to estimates, limit the global temperature rise to only 2.4 degrees Celsius.
While the chances are slim that this loophole will be closed, Sharma hopes the final deal will pave the way for further action.
For the first time, the longstanding call of poor countries to set up a money pot for aid in the event of damage and loss is taken up.
This refers to destruction or forced resettlement after droughts, storm surges or hurricanes that increase as a result of global warming.
The states are asked to pay in money for it.
Neubauer accuses politicians of failure
In addition, the new draft calls on rich countries to double the planned funds for financing climate protection in the period from 2019 to 2025.
Small island states in particular, which are threatened by the rise of the seas, insist on this.
The climate expert from the Oxfam organization, Jan Kowalzig, criticized the fact that only technical support should continue to be available after damaging events, but that the entire damage would not be paid.
Regarding a newly announced multi-year dialogue process on reparations payments, he said: "I don't even consider this a step forward, but a smoke candle."
The German climate activist Luisa Neubauer had already settled with the results before the latest draft was available.
"You can see that as a failure," she told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
"It's not about navigating an interesting diplomatic process, but about mitigating a real catastrophe that is happening here right now and bringing people to safety."
apr / Reuters / dpa / AFP