Valerie Volcovici and Elizabeth Piper by Kate Abnett

GLASGOW, (Reuters) – Negotiators extended the two-week-old U.N. Climate talks in Scotland to Saturday. They wrestled with a new draft of an agreement that would give the world a chance at avoiding worst-case scenarios of global warming.

Alok Sharma (the British conference president) said he expected COP26’s closing on Saturday afternoon. The deal will be between almost 200 countries that include superpowers, oil producers, and Pacific islands that have been flooded by rising sea levels.

As with previous drafts, this latest version attempted to balance climate-vulnerable and industrial nations’ needs, as well as those whose imports or use of fossil fuels is vital for their economic development.

Britain attempted to solve one of the most difficult issues in the world by proposing solutions to make sure that poor countries finally receive more of what they promised. This was to help them prepare and handle increasingly severe weather events.

China, the biggest current emitter https://graphics.reuters.com/CLIMATE-UN/EMISSIONS/jnvwexaryvw/index.html of the greenhouse gases responsible for manmade global warming, and Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, were seeking to prevent the final deal including language that opposes subsidies for fossil fuels, two sources told Reuters on Friday.

However, Saturday’s draft https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/Overarching_decision_1-CMA-3_1.pdf, published by the United Nations, continued to single out fossil fuels – something no U.N. climate conference conclusion has yet succeeded in doing.

They also encouraged rich countries to double their finance for climate adaptation, starting at 2019 levels. This funding was requested by small island states.

‘KEEPING 1.5 ALIVE’

The developing countries seek to make sure that wealthy nations who have contributed a lot to warming the earth’s surface pay more for adaptation to their consequences.

The majority of climate funds go to countries that are the most economically poor. Adaptation funding currently accounts for only about 1%.

Britain stated that the U.N. should present next year’s progress report on delivering the $100billion in annual global climate funding promised by rich countries. The committee will also discuss whether governments have met in 2022-2024, 2026 and 2026 for discussions about climate finance.

It is the meeting’s ultimate goal to meet 2015 Paris Agreement’s global warming target of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.

Scientists believe that if we go above that level, extreme sea-level rise would cause catastrophes like monstrous hurricanes, wildfires, and crippling droughts.

National pledges to reduce emissions have so far only been able to limit the global average temperature increase at 2.4 Celsius. Sharma stated that despite the fact there being little likelihood of the gap closing in Glasgow, he hopes the final agreement will open the door to deeper cuts.

Liberian Nellie Dokie, 37, who lives in Glasgow and has been making a daily two-hour trip to cook for conference delegates, ventured her first peep into the main conference area https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/cop26-final-hours-climate-negotiations-2021-11-12 on Saturday before delegates began a noon stock-taking session.

She said, “I would like to be part of history.” She said, “I had a very small role.”

“WAIT AND SEE”

John Kerry, U.S. climate envoy, was also positive late Friday when asked if he shared the sentiment of Greta Thunberg regarding COP26 as a celebration for “business-as usual”.

He replied “Obviously, I disagree,” and “I think that you’ll see it when you witness what happens.”

Kerry and Xie Zhenhua, the Chinese negotiator, announced on Thursday that they would increase efforts to conserve forests. These trees are needed to absorb and retain carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce the output of methane, the second most important greenhouse gas. This helped revive hopes.

According to the White House, President Joe Biden (who has successfully pushed $555 billion of climate legislation through Congress as part of a post-pandemic recovery program) will host a virtual meeting on Monday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Many are hopeful that the latest draft of the Glasgow Agreement will contain a demand that nations set stronger climate commitments next year than they do every five years.

A proposal was being made by Italy and the European Union to utilize Special Drawing Rights offered by the International Monetary Fund for climate finance to meet the goal of $100 billion, an EU official reported.

However, $100 billion per year is still far below the actual needs of countries that are poorer. According to UN estimates, $300 billion could be spent annually on adaptation costs by 2030. This includes economic losses due to crop failures and climate-related catastrophes.