Boris Johnson warned world leaders they faced a backlash of criticism and opprobrium if they "sat on their hands" and failed to get an agreement on climate action at the Cop26 meeting in Glasgow.
After a last minute dash to the Scottish city to put the pressure on the negotiations, the UK prime minister said it was very frustrating to see countries edging towards allowing vulnerable nations dropping by default into the grips of climate change. A deal could be done.
"We just need to reach out and grasp it," he said. "My question to world leaders as we enter the last hours of Cop is 'Will you help us do that?"
An overnight first draft of the Cop26 headline agreement asked countries to "revisit and strengthen the 2030 targets in their nationally determined contributions, as necessary to align with the Paris Agreement temperature goal by the end of 2022.
Mr Johnson said the talks needed to go further before a Friday night deadline to wind up the talks. "The risk of sliding backward is disastrous," he said. "The line is in sight but if we are going to get over that line we need a determined push."
Officials leading the Cop26 talks hope to present a series of “near final” drafts of agreements overnight on Wednesday after a UK template for a deal at Glasgow set out a framework for countries to make commitments by the end of 2022.
Alok Sharma, the Cop26 president, called on delegates to come “armed with the currency of compromise” on Wednesday as he looks for final concessions that would straddle the most contentious gaps.
The current set of pledges for emissions reductions by the end of the decade do not meet the Paris Agreement target of capping the global temperature rise at 1.5°C. A baseline for success is that the meeting has "kept alive" the prospect of meeting that target before it is too late.
The UK draft called on countries to “revisit and strengthen the 2030 targets in their Nationally Determined Contributions [NDCs] as necessary to align with the Paris Agreement temperature goal by the end of 2022".
Documents from the UK also "[note] with regret that the goal of developed country parties to mobilise jointly $100 billion per year by 2020 in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation has not yet been met".
Frans Timmermans, the head of the EU delegation, told the meeting that with extra effort, the UK framework could be the means to “close the gap within the year".
Swiss Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said on Wednesday that there were three views on how often countries should set targets, as negotiators weigh a change from the five-year cycle laid out by the Paris Agreement. Vulnerable nations want an annual process whereas a “very small” group of nations want to extend the time frame to every decade.
“Views still differ widely, of course, as to what should be the preferred time frame for NDCs to be applied from 2031 onwards,” she said.
Proponents say the push for more regular reviews of climate plans is seen as necessary because countries' current 2030 pledges would lead to 2.4°C of warming.
Also still in the balance is a deal on carbon credits.
“The text has narrowed and the choice is clear,” said Mr Sharma.
Espen Barth Eide, the Norwegian foreign minister, said that burden of financing the adaptation of vulnerable economies remained one of the most contentious issues.
In his press conference, Mr Johnson predicted finance would be the "solvent" that unlocked the differences. Archie Young, the UK's chief negotiator, said three main issues on accounting for credits, grandfathering previous 2015 entitlements and how to share the proceeds remained sticking points, but that imaginative solutions were being hashed out.
As a general overview, he said the documents were evidence that countries were raising their ambitions for what could be agreed to at Glasgow.
Mr Young is due to meet delegations on Wednesday to circulate the latest version of the agreements.
A separate topic is the so-called transparency of how countries account for their carbon pledges and here, the feedback was more positive, with a high level of agreement between delegations, but a political decision is still needed on the sequencing of an agreement.
For the first time in the UN climate negotiation process, the text would call for countries to phase out coal and fossil fuel subsidies — if the current language makes it into the final document.
“It’s quite helpful to have those sectors named very specifically and those types of actions named very specifically,” said David Waskow, director of the International Climate Initiative at the World Resources Institute.
The text sends messages on particular areas in which new offers are desired, including the issue of financing for countries vulnerable to climate change.
The presidency “notes with serious concern that the current provision of climate finance for adaptation is insufficient to respond to worsening climate change impacts in developing country parties [and] urges developed country parties to urgently scale up their provision of climate finance for adaptation so as to respond to the needs of developing country parties".
The most vulnerable nations have called on developed nations to do more and to strengthen the language.
“We won't get the ambition on emissions we need for 1.5°C if we don't scale up the provision of finance, and this includes the long-overdue recognition of a separate and additional component for loss and damage,” said Aubrey Webson, chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States Group.
“Urging, calling, encouraging and inviting is not the decisive language that this moment calls for.”
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Canada
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How to volunteer
The UAE volunteers campaign can be reached at www.volunteers.ae , or by calling 800-VOLAE (80086523), or emailing info@volunteers.ae.
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
What is an FTO Designation?
FTO designations impose immigration restrictions on members of the organisation simply by virtue of their membership and triggers a criminal prohibition on knowingly providing material support or resources to the designated organisation as well as asset freezes.
It is a crime for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to or receive military-type training from or on behalf of a designated FTO.
Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances removable from, the United States.
Except as authorised by the Secretary of the Treasury, any US financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of or control over funds in which an FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and report the funds to the Treasury Department.
Source: US Department of State
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The biog
Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology
Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India
Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur
How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993
Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters
Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Getting there
The flights
Flydubai operates up to seven flights a week to Helsinki. Return fares to Helsinki from Dubai start from Dh1,545 in Economy and Dh7,560 in Business Class.
The stay
Golden Crown Igloos in Levi offer stays from Dh1,215 per person per night for a superior igloo; www.leviniglut.net
Panorama Hotel in Levi is conveniently located at the top of Levi fell, a short walk from the gondola. Stays start from Dh292 per night based on two people sharing; www. golevi.fi/en/accommodation/hotel-levi-panorama
Arctic Treehouse Hotel in Rovaniemi offers stays from Dh1,379 per night based on two people sharing; www.arctictreehousehotel.com
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Women & Power: A Manifesto
Mary Beard
Profile Books and London Review of Books
World Cricket League Division 2
In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.
UAE fixtures
Thursday February 8, v Kenya; Friday February 9, v Canada; Sunday February 11, v Nepal; Monday February 12, v Oman; Wednesday February 14, v Namibia; Thursday February 15, final
World Cricket League Division 2
In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.
UAE fixtures
Thursday February 8, v Kenya; Friday February 9, v Canada; Sunday February 11, v Nepal; Monday February 12, v Oman; Wednesday February 14, v Namibia; Thursday February 15, final
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
James Mustich, Workman
RESULTS
5pm: Watha Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 (Dirt) 2,000m
Winner: Dalil De Carrere, Bernardo Pinheiro (jockey), Mohamed Daggash (trainer)
5.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 70,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Miracle Maker, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Pharitz Al Denari, Bernardo Pinheiro, Mahmood Hussain
6.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Oss, Jesus Rosales, Abdallah Al Hammadi
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: ES Nahawand, Fernando Jara, Mohamed Daggash
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: AF Almajhaz, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi, Khalifa Al Neyadi
8pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: AF Lewaa, Bernardo Pinheiro, Qaiss Aboud.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Guns N’ Roses’s last gig before Abu Dhabi was in Hong Kong on November 21. We were there – and here’s what they played, and in what order. You were warned.
- It’s So Easy
- Mr Brownstone
- Chinese Democracy
- Welcome to the Jungle
- Double Talkin’ Jive
- Better
- Estranged
- Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
- Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
- Rocket Queen
- You Could Be Mine
- Shadow of Your Love
- Attitude (Misfits cover)
- Civil War
- Coma
- Love Theme from The Godfather (movie cover)
- Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb cover)
- Wish You Were Here (instrumental Pink Floyd cover)
- November Rain
- Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
- Nightrain
Encore:
- Patience
- Don’t Cry
- The Seeker (The Who cover)
- Paradise City
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
The biog
Name: Timothy Husband
Nationality: New Zealand
Education: Degree in zoology at The University of Sydney
Favourite book: Lemurs of Madagascar by Russell A Mittermeier
Favourite music: Billy Joel
Weekends and holidays: Talking about animals or visiting his farm in Australia
