The American climate envoy Kerry had called for drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions before the end of this decade and not to further water down texts in the draft statement. Kerry argued, among other things, for an end to subsidies for fossil fuels. He said action must be taken now “to avert the worst effects of the climate crisis”.
In his speech, European Commissioner Timmermans came up with a similar, urgent message. He cited his 1-year-old grandson. “If we succeed, he will live in a livable world. With a clean economy and clean air. If we fail, he will fight with other people for water and food. That’s the harsh reality.”
According to Timmermans, “the 1.5 degrees” must be kept alive at the top, referring to the degree of global warming that was agreed in the Paris climate agreement in 2015. It was then agreed that warming should be limited to well below. the 2 degrees and preferably below 1.5 degrees.
Delegations had on paper until 6 pm local time in Glasgow to agree on a final statement. When that deal did not materialize, it was already expected that the summit would be extended until Saturday. In the past, climate conferences often lasted into the weekend.
Protests
Earlier on the closing day, many demonstrators inside and outside the conference center had expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of decisiveness of the world leaders, in their view. Climate action group Extinction Rebellion was also active outside the center. Inside, hundreds of supporters of civil society organizations and activist groups started a protest march.
They were admitted as observers to the so-called blue zone, where the official program of the summit takes place.
On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Guterres said the summit is “very likely” not to deliver the commitments needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Countries may agree that they will make those commitments before the end of next year.
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