Global media reacts to COP26 climate deal
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Alok Sharma (L), Britain’s President, reacts during his closing remarks at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference. It took place in Glasgow on November 13, 2021.
Getty Images| AFP | Getty Images
LONDON — Media outlets around the world have been giving their verdict on the COP26 deal, an agreement struck Saturday night which tries to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.
The U.N.-brokered agreement was approved by nearly 200 countries. However, it faced difficulties in phasing-out coal and fossil fuel subsidies, as well as financial support for low-income countries.
India and China, both among the world’s biggest burners of coal, insisted on a last-minute change of fossil fuel language in the pact — from a “phase out” of coal to a “phase down.”
After initially raising objections, the opposing countries eventually conceded.
The U.K.
Germany
Deutsche Welle’s English language edition declared “World leaders fail to honor climate pledge.” The U.N. Summit was “slammed” as a failure, after India and China weakened language regarding phasing off fossil fuels.
German tabloid Das Bild features headlines “Weltweiter Kohleausstieg eingeleitet,”It roughly translated as “Global Phase-out of Coal Initiated.”
This highlighted the fact, even though the language was not as clear, that it was the first time a COP conference took specific decisions regarding coal and fossil fuels.
France
France’s Les Monde headlined, “La COP26 accouche d’un accord en demi-teinte,”The mixed reception to the agreement was evident. According to it, the North countries did not meet the South’s expectations.
Le Figaro added thatThe Saturday Night Deal would likely cause a lot frustration.
The U.S.
China
The announcements got less media attention than expected in China, but the state-backed agency Xinhua reported that it included “commitments significantly increasing financial support through the Adaptation Fund. Developed nations were urged not to decrease their support of developing countries beyond 2025.”
The Xinhua report stated that “There is still to be seen if developed countries, whose growth has caused most of the climate change effects today, will heed this time frame.”
The COP26 Agreement does not include a provision for establishing a fund that will compensate affected countries for their climate-related loss or damage. The G-77 group of developing countries expressed “extreme disappointment” at this omission.
The Global Times had comments from China’s Ministry of Ecology and EnvironmentCOP26 concluded “smoothly”, according to a statement from.
India
Also, there was less attention on the climate summit in the English-language Indian news websites. The Hindustan Times reportedAntonio Guterres (United Nations Secretary-General) stated his agreement that the deal was a compromise.
The Times of India picked up comments made by Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav,The final text of the agreement was amended to include coal by Yadav’s eleventh-hour intervention. Yadav called Glasgow “a success from India’s perspective because we expressed and communicated the concerns and ideas for the developing world very succinctly, and unambiguously.”
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