Cop26 draft deal offers 'very little' to solve crisis, says environmental group

A leading environmental group has branded the first draft of a Cop26 deal as "pretty disappointing".

Friends of the Earth International said the draft agreement - which was revealed at the climate summit in Glasgow earlier today - is "very far from what we would hope for".

The agreement calls on countries to strengthen their emissions-cutting plans in the next year in a bid to keep a goal to limit warming to 1.5C within reach.

It also calls for faster phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels - a first for a UN deal - but there is likely to be strong resistance to this from some countries and it could be taken out of any final agreement.

Sara Shaw, the organisation's climate justice and energy programme coordinator, said: "Given the extent of the climate crisis, there's very little that's concrete in there. There's very little that's actually going to help solve the crisis that we're in."

She said: "The outcome that you get is going to be determined by who has managed to be here and not everyone is here.

"I think we all appreciate it's difficult organising a Cop in a pandemic but, really, it's not been a good situation at all. It's not been well organised and there's been so many barriers to people coming.

"There's also been issues with visas. There's been issues with countries being on the red list, quarantining and then suddenly being taken off the red list far too late for anyone to actually take action and to get themselves here.

"It does feel like the legitimacy of the outcomes are already in question because of how this has been organised."

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She added: "There needs to be money on the table and what do we see in this draft pact? No money - a bit of regret for the fact they haven't met the already weak £100bn a year target by 2020. These are real crocodile tears.

"This is the conference to try and tackle the climate crisis - why would you let some of the biggest polluters roam the corridors and have any kind of airtime and space?

"We have big polluters who are sitting on country delegations, potentially advising them. The group of fossil fuel representatives is, like, bigger than a country delegation. It's huge.

"There are a lot of people here and that has to have an influence, right? It has to have an influence on the outcome."

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