Former negotiator on COP26 incoming challenges

Climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, moved into the negotiating phase on Wednesday.

The heads of state are gone, their opening statements have set the course, but now it's the nitty-gritty technical talks that will determine the success of the COP26.

Long time climate negotiator Yamide Dagnet knows first-hand how it works, having negotiated for the UK and EU.

"Deals are made very often outside the room when countries are going to have some, will reach out to each other to better understand, you know where they're coming from and to identify whether there's possibility for convergence, for middle ground, for landing zones," Dagnet told The Associated Press.

For the next 10 days, if things don't go perfectly - and they rarely do - it's time for the professional diplomats to convert marching orders left by their heads of governments into compromises and agreements.

Technically it's done in a limited number of meeting rooms, with a Friday Nov. 12 deadline and a record long agenda with 104 items that have to be settled.

It's pretty hectic now, but next week with that deadline, limited rooms and even more disappearing time things get crazy, veteran negotiators and United Nations officials say.

Meetings go around the clock, food and sleep get put aside, except when someone dozes off in their seats or on their colleague's shoulder.

But it's the kind of crazy that somehow works, negotiators say.

Dagnet, who now works for the World Resources Institute, has taken stock of the past two days at the COP.

Asked about US President Joe Biden's criticism of China, Dagnet said the issue wasn't that President Xi Jinping didn't make it to the conference in person, it was more about Xi's lack of new ambition.

"We were disappointed that the national climate plans, their NDCs (nationally determined contributions) were not as ambitious as they could be. We know that China can do better," she said.

As for the US itself, Dagnet said that while it has come a long way from President  Donald Trump's taking the nation out of the Paris agreement, it mustn't grow complacent.

"What needs to be done domestically is challenging," she said.

"It's not going to be a piece of cake for any country and certainly not for the United States. So this is why the accountability mechanism that is being discussed here matters because yes, we heard you, you're going to do that, we're going to hold you accountable for what you said."