COP26 President Alok Sharma criticises India, China over 'watering down' coal pact

COP26 President Alok Sharma warned that India and China will have to explain themselves to poor nations after watering down the Glasgow climate pact. According to the COP26 commitment, world leaders have struck a deal that presses for more urgent emission cuts and promises more money for developing countries to help them adapt to climate impacts. However, the pledges don’t go far enough to limit temperature rise to 1.5C as countries agreed to “phase down” the coal usage instead of phasing it out completely. 

India and China - both heavily dependent on coal power - had objected to the commitment to “phase out” coal, forcing to reopen the draft text of the deal and instead proposing the slightly weaker “phase down” coal usage. The commitment, therefore, now allows them to still carry on using coal in some way. It does not attach any deadline to the use of coal, which is the worst fossil fuel for greenhouse gases. 

While speaking to The Guardian, Sharma said that India and China’s actions had left him “deeply frustrated”. He said that the two nations will have to explain to climate-vulnerable countries why they did what they did. Sharma even added that the world leaders at the COP26 summit agreed to “phase down” coal because of fears that the deal would be lost if China and India refused to agree to the previous terms. 

The COP26 President said that he had to accept the compromise or else Summit would have lost two years of hard work and would have ended up with nothing to show. Sharma told the media outlet that he was previously told that the commitment he wanted on coal was “never going to get in” and that he would have to present a watered-down language. He said that the final deal wasn’t quite what he wanted, however, he added that just having the wording about coal was “incredibly important”. 

Negotiations at COP26 was 'not enough'

Meanwhile, global leaders who welcomed the deal in Glasgow also said that a huge amount of work remained to be done. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres remarked that the outcome of the negotiations in Glasgow was “not enough”. He stated that the outcomes of the summit were a compromise, adding that they reflect the interests, the conditions, the contradictions and the state of political will in the world today. 

“They take important steps. But unfortunately, the collective political will was not enough to overcome some deep contradictions," the UN Chief said.

Separately, John Kerry, the UN Climate Envoy, was also visibly annoyed with the deal. While speaking to reporters, Kerry said, “Did I appreciate we had to adjust one thing tonight in a very unusual way? No. But if we hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have a deal. I’ll take ‘phase it down’ and take the fight into next year”. Moreover, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg also dismissed the COP26 climate conference deal as “blah, blah, blah”.

(Image: AP/PTI)