Alok Sharma 'envisages' Saturday finish for COP26 and agreement on arrangement
ITV News Deputy Political Editor Anushka Asthana outlines the issues that remain as COP26 continues into the weekend
Negotiators at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow have been working overnight, with a final draft agreement expected imminently, as the summit president Alok Sharma eyes up the end of the day for a final agreement.
Mr Sharma told delegates that revised documents for the agreements to be struck in Glasgow will be issued overnight, and be available by 8am on Saturday. However, by 9am they had not yet been published.
After the draft is released, a short informal plenary meeting will be held, when Mr Sharma says he will introduce the documents, share his assessment of the state of the negotiations and set out proposed next steps.
He said he envisages a formal plenary in the afternoon to adopt the final decisions of COP26 and close the session on Saturday.
Why has an agreement still not been reached? ITV News Political Editor Robert Peston explains
A draft document on Friday showed negotiators had appeared to back away from a call to end all use of coal and phase out fossil fuel subsidies completely.
While the US special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry told ITV News "we're working right now" to meet the pledge of $100 billion a year as he hinted progress was being made on finance.
The proposal from the meeting’s chair called on countries to accelerate “the phase-out of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels.” A previous version on Wednesday had called on countries to “accelerate the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuel.” The change in wording suggests a shift away from unconditional demands that some fossil fuel exporting nations have objected to.
The COP27 climate conference - what you need to know
What is COP27? When and where will it be?
What is COP27? When and where will it be?
Each year, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meets at what is called the Conference of the Parties (abbreviated as COP) to discuss the world's progress on climate change and how to tackle it.
COP27 is the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties summit which will be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from November 6-18.
Who is going?
Who is going?
Leaders of the 197 countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - a treaty that came into force in 1994 - are invited to the summit.
These are some of the world leaders that will be attending COP27:
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is attending the conference, after initially saying he wouldn't as he was too busy focusing on the economy within his first weeks in office.
US President Joe Biden and his experienced climate envoy, John Kerry, will appear at the talks.
France President Emmanuel Macron will also be among the heads of state from around the world staying in Egypt.
King Charles III will not be attending COP27, despite being a staunch advocate for the environment. The decision was made jointly by Buckingham Palace and former prime minister Liz Truss.
Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will not attend the talks just as they decided to do for COP26.
What is it hoping to achieve?
What is it hoping to achieve?
1. Ensure full implementation of the Paris Agreement and putting negotiations into concrete actions - included within this is the target of limiting global warming to well below 2C.
2. Cementing progress on the critical workstreams of mitigation, adaptation, finance and loss and damage, while stepping up finance notably to tackle the impacts of climate change.
3. Enhancing the delivery of the principles of transparency and accountability throughout the UN Climate Change process.
How important is ending the use of coal and fossil fuel subsidies?
The question of how to address the continued use of fossil fuels responsible for much of global warming has been one of the key sticking points at the two-week talks.
Scientists agree it is necessary to end their use as soon as possible to meet the 2015 Paris accord’s goal of capping global warming at 1.5C.
Who is opposed to the phase-out?
Explicitly including such a call in the overarching declaration is politically sensitive, including for countries, such as Saudi Arabia, that fear oil and gas may be targeted next.
It is also thought an alliance of developing nations and emerging economies have wanted commitments to phasing fossil fuels out to be stripped from the cover agreement, arguing being asked to decarbonise without financial support will leave them trapped in poverty.
So where do the talks go from here?
A final agreement is expected by the end of Saturday, but the talks could overrun as negotiators come under pressure to resolve further issues, such as finance for poorer countries to cope with climate change.
Rich nations failed to provide them with $100 billion (£87 billion) annually by 2020, as agreed, causing considerable anger among developing countries going into the talks.
On Friday, Mr Sharma called for “pragmatic and workable solutions”, but admitted that despite “extensive discussions”, some key disagreements remained.
He said: “We have come a long way over the past two weeks and now we need that final injection of that can-do spirit which is present at this Cop so that we get this shared endeavour over the line.
“Across the full suite of the draft decisions, a small number of key issues remain which require urgent, collective attention.”