Cop26 delegates were locked in a linguistic battle on Friday as they pored over pages of contentious texts on how to save the planet from rising temperatures.
Negotiators missed a 6pm deadline to wrap up the talks as they tussled over phrases such as “unabated” coal, “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies and whether countries should be “urged” or “requested” to take action.
The bigger picture in Glasgow – the challenge of stopping catastrophic climate change – remained unresolved as the 12-day summit stretched into overtime.
Summit president Alok Sharma planned to hold further rounds of talks with delegates before presenting the final texts for approval.
The agreements will show how far they have reached consensus on phasing out fossil fuels and meeting the financial costs of climate change.
New draft texts released around dawn on Friday were described as a bit weaker than the previous versions, largely based on interpretations that the language calling on countries to have another go at their climate plans by next year was watered down.
A closely watched line on fossil fuels and coal survived the revisions – though it was tweaked after resistance from some countries, including China. The proposal now is to phase out “unabated” coal.
That allows for some wiggle room and falls short of the Cop26 goal to “consign coal to history”.
For experts the "unabated" term generally means burning the fossil fuel without using any emission-reduction technologies, such as carbon capture and storage.
John Kerry, the US climate envoy, welcomed the latest draft text on “unabated” coal use, and also a reference that “inefficient” subsidies be phased out – instead of all of the incentives offered by states.
“That language must stay,” he said. “We’re not talking about all, we’re talking about eliminating. We’re talking about the capacity for capture, if you can do it.”
EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans said the summit needed to "finally turn the page on coal".
"Let’s leave Glasgow with a strong action on coal power and subsidies for fossil fuels, because without these concrete steps, our targets will be utterly meaningless," he said.
2100
The previous draft stated that countries recognise limiting global warming “to 1.5°C by 2100 requires rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions”. The new version omits “2100”.
Felix Schenuit, a visiting fellow with Berlin-based foreign policy think tank SWP Europe, said the shift in the text is significant.
It closes a backdoor that would have allowed the world to heat beyond 1.5°C in the next few decades, before dropping back to that level by 2100 by sucking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
“Politically, the new version is more ambitious wording,” Mr Schenuit said.
Raising ambition
One of the common phrases in Glasgow is that delegates must “raise their ambition”, a term that is rarely heard outside of the UN climate negotiations.
Fifty countries most vulnerable to climate change said the new draft did .not go far enough to compel nations to come back with tougher pledges to cut emissions.
“We are not happy with the annual ambition raising being relegated to a round-table of ministers and only focused on mitigation, and being open-ended rather than until, for example, 2025,” a spokesman for the group of countries said.
Cop negotiators are long used to squabbles over tiny details of every text, and the Glasgow summit has been no different to its predecessors.
Requests and urges
The new draft that dropped on Friday morning additionally “requests” countries come back with new carbon-cutting pledges next year. That replaces the word “urges” in a previous draft.
Now people are trying to work out which word is stronger.
Usually in UN-speak, “urges” is the trump word. But an official style guide by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change suggested the reverse is true.
Cop26 president the UK consulted UN lawyers in New York and was that “requests” is the stronger demand.
It is these battles that are destined to stretch the two-week summit into “overtime” as it nears its end.
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Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
Results
2.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Mezmar, Adam McLean (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 2,000m; Winner: AF Ajwad, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Gold Silver, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel.
4pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,000m; Winner: Atrash, Richard Mullen, Ana Mendez.
4.30pm: Gulf Cup Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Momtaz, Saif Al Balushi, Musabah Al Muhairi.
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Al Mushtashar, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
Dr Graham's three goals
Short term
Establish logistics and systems needed to globally deploy vaccines
Intermediate term
Build biomedical workforces in low- and middle-income nations
Long term
A prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
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PSL FINAL
Multan Sultans v Peshawar Zalmi
8pm, Thursday
Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEjari%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERiyadh%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EYazeed%20Al%20Shamsi%2C%20Fahad%20Albedah%2C%20Mohammed%20Alkhelewy%20and%20Khalid%20Almunif%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPropTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%241%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESanabil%20500%20Mena%2C%20Hambro%20Perks'%20Oryx%20Fund%20and%20angel%20investors%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E8%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Scores:
Day 4
England 290 & 346
Sri Lanka 336 & 226-7 (target 301)
Sri Lanka require another 75 runs with three wickets remaining
The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
