MENU

Social Channels

SEARCH ARCHIVE

  • Type

  • Topic

  • Sort

Delegates huddle during the final stages of the SBSTA closing plenary at COP25
Delegates huddle during the final stages of the SBSTA closing plenary at COP25. Credit: Kiara Worth / IISD/ENB.
COP26 GLASGOW
29 October 202114:31

Interactive: Who wants what at the COP26 climate change summit

Multiple Authors

10.29.21
COP26 Glasgow Interactive: Who wants what at the COP26 climate change summit

Many thousands of words have been written about what the COP26 climate summit should be aiming to achieve, according to a multitude of different perspectives.

The UK COP26 presidency has set out its ownprioritiesfor the talks, namely ambition to “keep 1.5C in reach”, adaptation, finance and collaboration. These have beenloosely summarisedby the UK prime minister Boris Johnson as “coal, cars, cash and trees”.

Many of the UK priorities, however, do not relate directly to the正式negotiations, which begin on Sunday 31 October and are supposed to conclude on Friday 12 November. These talks are the main focus for COP26 and the reason that thousands of diplomats are descending on Glasgow.

In the interactive table below, Carbon Brief lists priority agenda items and “red lines” for variousnegotiating alliancesat the talks, such as AOSIS, BASIC and the EU.

(See the Carbon Briefexplaineron the negotiating alliances at climate talks for more.)

The table shows positions on the key topics due to be negotiated at COP26, based on public information and informal intelligence gathered by Carbon Brief.

By sorting the columns by negotiating bloc, broad topic, specific issue or position, the table helps cut through the “four-dimensional spaghetti” of competing priorities.

The table is a living document that will be updated during the course of the summit. Pleaseget in touchif you would like to offer additions to the table, by emailing[email protected].

There are brief explanations of the jargon-filled language that permeates the talks, below the interactive table.

Table by Tom Prater for Carbon Brief.

Theformal agendafor COP26 is divided into various tracks. One is for theCOP itself, meaning the conference of the parties to theUN Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC).

Then there is a “conference of the parties serving as the meeting of the parties” (CMA) to theKyoto Protocol(CMA16) and similarly for theParis Agreement(CMA3).

Finally, there are tracks for two technical bodies, theSubsidiary Body for Implementation(SBI52-55) and theSubsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice(SBSTA52-55).

Only items on one of these agendas will be part of the formal talks in Glasgow.

Some items, such as apushto explicitly put the 1.5C target on the agenda for COP26,failedto make the cut once the final versions of the agendas were approved.

Nevertheless, a range of political priorities will feature at the talks, with each group pushing for its key asks to be reflected in the negotiated outcome of the summit.

Matters up for formal negotiation include progress on the provision ofclimate finance, including regular reporting of how much has and will be given by each country.

The talks will discuss the balance between funding for mitigation versus adaptation and a new target from 2025 onwards, which must be higher than the existing pledge for rich countries to give $100bn a year.

Various parts of the talks will address “ambition”, meaning for example progress towards the aims of the Paris Agreement on limiting warming, providing climate finance and supporting adaptation.

Negotiators will also grapple with the issue of “loss and damage” caused by unavoidable climate change, including the details of the “Santiago Network” expected to offer “technical assistance” and debate over whether specific climate finance will be on offer to manage the problem.

Article 6of the Paris Agreement, on voluntary international cooperation including carbon markets, remains unresolved, three years after the rest of the “Paris rulebook” was finalised.

(See the in-depthCarbon Brief Q&A在第六条的更多信息)。

Sticking points include how – or even whether – to avoid “double counting” of emissions cuts sold as carbon offsets and whether to set aside a “share of proceeds” of trading to support adaptation.

(Recentpress reports建议softening stance from Brazil, which has been the chief source of opposition to strong rules on double counting at previous summits.)

Negotiators must also decide whether to allow the “carryover” of schemes, methodologies and/or credits created under the Kyoto Protocol’s carbon market, the Clean Development Mechanism.

Expert analysis direct to your inbox.

Get a round-up of all the important articles and papers selected by Carbon Brief by email. Find out more about our newslettershere.

Other issues for Article 6 include how to achieve “overall mitigation” when emissions cuts are traded, perhaps via the “automatic cancellation” of a fraction of credits, as well as how or whether to specifically safeguard human rights in the new carbon market.

COP26 will also attempt to agree “common timeframes” for countries’ climate pledges and the Paris “enhanced transparency framework”, so that progress towards meeting them can be tracked.

(The EU has recently come outin favourof five-year common timeframes for pledges, havingpreviouslybeen opposed to this.)

Finally, countries must work out remaining details of the “global stocktake” that will assess overall progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement. This is due to start shortly after COP26 and end in 2023.

Sharelines from this story
  • Interactive: Who wants what at the COP26 climate change summit
  • COP26: Who wants what at the UN climate talks in Glasgow

Expert analysis direct to your inbox.

Get a round-up of all the important articles and papers selected by Carbon Brief by email. Find out more about our newslettershere.