EU wants COP26 to decry gap between climate promises and action–document

 A view shows Highway 89 with burned trees on one side and unburned trees on the other at the site of the Dixie Fire, a wildfire near the town of Greenville, California, U.S. August 7, 2021. REUTERS FILE PHOTO

BERLIN — The European Union wants the final document of the U.N. COP26 climate summit in Glasgow to denounce insufficient ambition in the fight to reduce greenhouse gases, according to a German government paper seen by Reuters.

The EU wants the document to highlight the “ambition gap” between the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to fight climate change and the goal to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to the intermediate summary of the German delegation.

“To keep within 1.5C requires a drastic reduction in emissions by 2030,” according to the paper. “There’s especially a gap between the long-term commitments and the NDCs focused on the next 10 years.”

A U.N. report released days before the Glasgow talks said current pledges to cut climate-warming emissions put the planet on course for a 2.7C temperature rise this century.

The German paper was also critical about attempts to get more financing from rich counties to help poorer ones adapt to climate change.

“So far, there has hardly been any progress on the 17 points of negotiation over financial topics,” the paper said.

Rich nations already failed to meet a 2020 deadline to deliver $100 billion of funds a year to help developing nations transition away from fossil fuels and prepare for climate impacts.

The pledge, made in 2009, is an acknowledgement that developed nations have contributed most emissions to the atmosphere and so bear more responsibility for reversing course.

The U.N. climate change summit is due to finish on Friday with a statement of the 197 states.