GLASGOW (Reuters) – After two days of speeches and announcements, world leaders departed the U.N. climate summit, leaving the nitty gritty of negotiations to country delegates.
Here’s what you need to know for Wednesday, Day 3 of the two-week COP26 summit in Glasgow:
PRIVATE FINANCE
Delegations will begin focusing on the rules around climate finance – looking for ways to entice more private money to tasks including decarbonizing economies and adapting to climate impacts.
Already, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, with over $130 trillion of private capital, is now committed to transforming the economy for net zero. GFANZ has grown 25-fold since April to 450 firms from 45 countries, according to a progress report it publishes today.
The IFRS Foundation also announced the formation of the International Sustainability Standards Board, ISSB, to develop a global baseline of sustainability disclosures for the financial markets, while Britain’s markets watchdog set out ideas to improve labelling of investment products touting ‘green’ credentials.
Throughout the day, expect more focus too on issues including how companies measure climate risk exposure, plan to tackle their emissions and report their sustainability credentials.
A Global Resilience Index will launch on Wednesday to improve the way insurers, financiers and investors measure the resilience of countries, companies and supply chains.
GOVERNMENT FINANCE
Richer nations and emerging economies are expected to discuss delivering finance more effectively to developing nations to help move to a zero-emissions economy.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen threw Washington’s support behind a new capital market mechanism https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/us-backs-new-effort-issue-green-bonds-treasury-chief-yellen-2021-11-03 to issue investment-grade “green bonds.”
Rich nations’ failure to meet a 2020 target for providing $100 billion a year in climate financing to developing countries has earned wide rebuke. But on Tuesday, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry suggested the goal could be meet by 2022 https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/japan-pledge-brings-100-bln-climate-funding-target-closer-us-envoy-says-2021-11-02, instead of the revised goal of 2023.
Meanwhile, Kerry said on Wednesday that national pledges for cutting climate-warming emissions so far gave the world a 60% chance https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/us-climate-envoy-kerry-sees-60-chance-capping-global-temp-15c-2021-11-03 of meeting the Paris Agreement goal of containing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures.
We could see more pledges made later on Wednesday. In the evening, three U.N. agencies will launch a scheme for funding improvements to weather monitoring in poor countries and island nations, and some governments are expected to pledge financing for that.
Poor weather forecasting has left many in the developing world ill-equipped to anticipate weather extremes, raising uncertainty around food security and putting communities at increased risk from natural disasters.
(Reporting by Katy Daigle; Editing by Giles Elgood)
