COP26: China, India In Last-minute Pushback On Fossil Fuels, Coal

THE coal clause at the ongoing United Nations’ COP26 Climate Change Summit has been dealt a devastating blow by a last-minute intervention from energy-hungry China and India on Saturday. The hope to phase out coal use was weakened just minutes before the summit reached a conclusion.

The majority of participating countries agreed to “phase down,” not “phase out” coal in wording the agreement. It would be recalled that the resolution was watered down several times in the course of the week.

Prime Business Africa had, in its editorial of Monday, November 8, noted that leaders, delegates, and stakeholders all around the world are currently gathering for the COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.

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CoP26 represents the third conference of the parties since the Paris Agreement of 2015. the conference, which was due in November 2020, was postponed due to COVID-9 and its accompanying restrictions. Similar events have taken place in Copenhagen, Denmark (2009), Cancun, Mexico (2010), Durban South Africa (2011), Qatar(2012), Paris (2015).

Recent experience around the world has seen climate change causing alarming variations in weather patterns and temperatures. Experts estimate that the long-term effects of the warming temperatures may spell more calamity in addition to the horrors experienced in the US, China, Germany, India, Pakistan, the Philippines and several other countries.