India wants clause on finance support to developing countries included in COP26 final draft

<p>
India has come out in strongly in favour of the issue of financial and technological support to help developing countries fight climate change being reflected in the final outcome of the COP26 conference at Glasgow which was extended by a day to hammer out a final draft.  </p>
<p>
Negotiators at COP26 were due to meet again on Saturday, after failing to conclude a deal on the climate crisis to rein in rising temperatures that threaten the planet.</p>
<p>
India’s lead negotiator Rich Sharma said, “The outcomes of COP26 must reflect the urgency of scaling up finance and other means of implementation support to developing countries. We express our disappointment at the lack of significant progress in climate finance related agenda items.”</p>
<p>
A draft of the final deal of the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference was released early on Friday, which was supposed to be the final day of the two-week conference.</p>
<p>
But a final agreement on limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius could not be reached as the issues of financial support for poorer nations from rich countries and the timeline for phasing out coal and other fossil fuels could not be resolved. </p>
<p>
Alok Sharma, the COP26 president, called on negotiators from the nearly 200 countries at the conference to come together and conclude an agreement.</p>
<p>
“We have come a long way over the past two weeks and now we need that final injection of that ‘can-do’ spirit, which is present at this COP, so we get this shared endeavour over the line,” Sharma said.</p>
<p>
The draft deal includes a requirement that countries set tougher climate pledges next year in an attempt to bridge the gap between their current targets and the much deeper cuts scientists say are needed this decade to avert catastrophic climate change.</p>
<p>
COP26 began on October 31 amid dire warnings from leaders, activists and scientists that not enough was being done to curb global warming.</p>
<p>
Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-largest oil producer and considered among the nations most resistant to strong wording on fossil fuels, said the latest draft was “workable”.</p>
<p>
A final deal will require the unanimous consent of the nearly 200 countries that signed the Paris accord.</p>
<p>
Friday morning’s draft proposals from the meeting’s chair called on countries to accelerate “the phaseout of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels”.</p>
<p>
A previous draft on Wednesday had been worded more strongly, calling on countries to “accelerate the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuel”.</p>
<p>
US climate envoy John Kerry said Washington backed the latest draft.</p>
<p>
“We’re not talking about eliminating” coal, he told fellow climate diplomats. But, he said: “Those subsidies have to go.”</p>