India, Iran refuse inclusion of fossil fuels as drivers of climate crisis in COP26 text

India and Iran have expressed fierce opposition to the inclusion of fossil fuels in any final agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26 on Saturday. As per CNN's report, the refusal from both nations can potentially thwart what would have been a major breakthrough in the history of climate action at the 11th hour. While all other 25 COPs before Glasgow never mentioned fossil fuels as drivers of the climate crisis, the draft text of COP26 called for the phasing out of unabated coal and fossil fuel subsidies.

Several sources told the US media outlet that the draft text had several caveats added between drafts as major fossil fuels had it watered down. During an informal session to give feedback on the draft on Saturday, delegates from dozens of nations listed their disagreements with the potential agreement. Notably, even Bolivia has several complaints and said that the nation would accept the draft as a compromise. India’s Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav reportedly said that “consensus remains elusive” and that fossil fuels had allowed parts of the world to achieve wealth and greater living standards. 

Yadav asked, “How can anyone expect developing countries to make promises about phasing out coal and fossil fuel subsidies?” adding that developing countries had to deal with poverty eradication.  He said, “Subsidies provide much-needed social security and support”  while providing the example of how India uses subsidies to supply liquified natural gas to low-income standards. 

Iran backed India's stance on fossil fuels

Additionally, the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change raised questions over a crucial measure on requesting countries come forward with updated plans on reducing the emissions by the end of 2022, which is the primary goal in the draft text. This has further brought the deadline for new goals forward by three years than the 2015 Paris Agreement requires. Yadav said that a similar sense of urgency was not given to climate finance. Iran’s delegation also reportedly supported India’s stance on fossil fuels. 

The media outlet quoted an Iranian delegate as saying, “We are not satisfied on paragraph 36 on the phaseout of fossil fuel subsidies.” The agreement requires getting all 197 participating member parties to reach a consensus on each and every word of the final text.

Image: AP