COP26 in the final hours of climate negotiations

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GLASGOW — As delegates work extra time to achieve a last deal on the U.N. local weather convention in Glasgow, Reuters reporters are on the bottom delivering the most recent updates, scenes and insights.

All instances are native (GMT).

8:53 p.m.

A dozen Greenpeace staffers sat huddled collectively within the COP26 convention halls, hunched over laptops and with some sitting on the ground, as they ready a brand new assertion on the most recent draft revisions.

Spanish Vitality and Atmosphere Minister Teresa Ribera was seen speeding from her delegation’s workplace, because the UK COP26 Presidency dropped what many hope is the ultimate draft of an total Glasgow settlement.

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Technical crews have been boxing up flat-screen shows and carrying them out of assembly rooms, as they continued taking down components of the venue.

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8:21 a.m.

After tense in a single day deliberations, delegates have been poised on Saturday morning for the discharge of one other draft settlement.

The delegation pavilions, the place international locations had showcased their climate-friendly initiatives, have been all dismantled, however espresso stands have been nonetheless serving.

Civil society teams who’ve been intently watching the deliberations have been scouring paperwork launched within the early morning for clues about what may go into the ultimate deal.

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Friday

9:30 p.m.

The UK hosts of the convention issued an announcement confirming there will likely be no deal tonight.

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“I envisage formal plenary conferences within the afternoon to undertake choices and shut the session on Saturday,” Alok Sharma, the UK summit president stated in an announcement.

Delegations and the media seem like headed again to their accommodations for some relaxation earlier than what guarantees to be an extended day tomorrow.

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8:40 p.m.

The COP26 convention halls have grown quiet with small teams of negotiators, together with a dozen or so EU delegates, seen shifting alongside the halls to and from conferences.

This “shuttle diplomacy,” as diplomats shuttle between rooms, is how a lot of the work will get executed within the last hours of local weather negotiations, Felipe De Leon Denegri, Costa Rica’s carbon markets negotiator, informed Reuters.

However this yr could also be notably quiet as a lot of the shuttling is now executed over the messaging app WhatsApp, he stated.

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“One of many maybe bizarre issues about COP within the twenty first century is that shuttle diplomacy generally occurs on WhatsApp,” De Leon stated.

He stated the pandemic and more and more frequent digital work in all probability means extra exchanges than ever are being held on the Fb-owned app, the negotiator stated.

“It’s not that individuals aren’t working, it’s that they’re working by means of their cellphone they usually don’t appear to be shifting wherever.”

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8:15 p.m.

Tuvalu’s Finance Minister Seve Paeniu, head of the island nation’s delegation, stated he was up most of final night time negotiating the a part of the draft settlement coping with “loss and harm.” Low-lying Tuvalu and different susceptible international locations coping with impacts from local weather change need wealthy international locations liable for most emissions to pay up. He stated his staff is working to push the US and Australia to help a “standalone” loss and harm fund.

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Extra broadly, he stated he is not going to be glad leaving Glasgow with out a robust collective settlement that may hold alive the purpose of limiting world warming to 1.5C. “We don’t see ample dedication made by international locations to cut back emissions to realize that 1.5 diploma goal,” he stated. “By way of adaptation, there may be inadequate give attention to further financing.”

Former UK Labour Get together Chief Ed Miliband stopped within the hallway to go with Paeniu on a speech he gave earlier.

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7:38 p.m.

The delegation places of work on the summit complicated are primarily quiet. Two of China’s main negotiators are seen milling about of their workplace, whereas not far-off a pair of U.S. negotiators stroll down the corridor with sandwiches. All expectations are for a really lengthy night time as a number of main variations round ratcheting up emissions cuts pledges and take care of carbon markets and funding for poor international locations stay. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Jake Spring; Enhancing by David Gregorio and Jan Harvey)