GLASGOW (Reuters) -As delegates work overtime to reach a final deal at the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Reuters reporters are on the ground delivering the latest updates, scenes and insights.
All times are local.
9:30 p.m.
The UK hosts of the conference issued a statement confirming there will be no deal tonight.
“I envisage formal plenary meetings in the afternoon to adopt decisions and close the session on Saturday,” Alok Sharma, the UK summit president said in a statement.
Delegations and the media appear to be headed back to their hotels for some rest before what promises to be a long day tomorrow.
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8:40 p.m. The COP26 conference halls have grown quiet with small groups of negotiators, including a dozen or so EU delegates, seen moving along the halls to and from meetings. This “shuttle diplomacy,” as diplomats shuttle between rooms, is how most of the work gets done in the final hours of climate negotiations, Felipe De Leon Denegri, Costa Rica’s carbon markets negotiator, told Reuters. But this year may be particularly quiet as much of the shuttling is now done over the messaging app WhatsApp, he said. “One of the perhaps weird things about COP in the 21st century is that shuttle diplomacy sometimes happens on WhatsApp,” De Leon said. He said the pandemic and increasingly common virtual work probably means more exchanges than ever are being held on the Facebook-owned app, the negotiator said. “It’s not that people aren’t working, it’s that they are working through their phone and they don’t seem to be moving anywhere.”–
8:15 p.m.
Tuvalu’s Finance Minister Seve Paeniu, head of the island nation’s delegation, said he was up most of last night negotiating the part of the draft agreement dealing with “loss and damage”. Low-lying Tuvalu and other vulnerable countries dealing with impacts from climate change want rich countries responsible for most emissions to pay up. He said his team is working to push the United States and Australia to support a “standalone” loss and damage fund.
More broadly, he said he will not be satisfied leaving Glasgow without a strong collective agreement that can keep alive the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C. “We do not see sufficient commitment made by countries to reduce emissions to achieve that 1.5 degree target,” he said. “In terms of adaptation, there is insufficient focus on additional financing.”
Former UK Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband stopped in the hallway to compliment Paeniu on a speech he gave earlier.
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7:38 p.m.
The delegation offices at the summit complex are mainly quiet. Two of China’s leading negotiators are seen milling about in their office, while not far away a pair of U.S. negotiators walk down the hall with sandwiches. All expectations are for a very long night as several major differences around ratcheting up emissions cuts pledges and how to deal with carbon markets and funding for poor countries remain.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Jake Spring; Editing by David Gregorio)
