Today was supposed to be COP26's last day but the summit went into overtime this evening with negotiators still working on a final deal to tackle the climate crisis.
COP26 was due to wrap at 7pm CET today but there is still no white smoke for a final agreement as we're writing.
If the almost 200 countries involved in the talks are unable to strike a deal this evening, it is likely COP26 will be extended over the weekend.
Negotiators worked all night long on a new draft decision that was published early on Friday morning. But a number of sticking points remain - including climate finance.
COP26: Here is what you need to know from Day 12
The latest draft decision has watered down the language from the previous text calling to end all use of coal and phase out fossil fuel subsidies completely.
"The new final decision text could be better, it should be better, and we have one day left to make it a lot, lot better," said Greenpeace chief Jennifer Morgan.
On a more positive note, she said there was "wording in here worth holding on to." "We’ve moved from richer nations largely ignoring the pleas of developing countries for promised finance to tackle climate change, to the start of recognition that their calls should be met," Morgan tweeted.
Egypt and the United Arab Emirates will host the next COPs in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
"A small number of key issues remain which require our urgent collective attention,” said COP26 chairman Alok Sharma this afternoon as he urged “a final injection of can-do spirit” to deliver on an ambitious climate deal.
In case you weren't able to follow along on Thursday, here are five key takeaways from Day 11.
COP26 live updates
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Gabonese minister says US, EU holding talks back
Climate talks in Glasgow are at a “bit of a stalemate” and the United States, with support from the European Union, is holding back talks, according to Lee White, the Gabonese minister for forests and climate change.
White said on Friday there's a lack of trust between rich and poor nations over payments from rich countries to the poor for damage from the worst effects of global warming, funds for adapting to climate change and carbon markets.
Developing nations went to a meeting on Thursday thinking they had come to an agreement to create an independent fund for loss and damage finance. But Gabon's White said rich countries weren’t ready and felt that they hadn’t been consulted enough. “They said, we never agreed to that. It won’t work. It’s too complicated.”
White said rich countries are reluctant to create a new fund, and developing nations feel that existing climate finance mechanisms are already overstretched. “So, we’re at a bit of a stalemate ... The US is reluctant to give money for adapting to climate finance, and want it to be purely voluntary.” White added that the EU is supporting the American stance.
EU chief holds picture of grandchildren in emotional COP26 speech
“If we succeed, he’ll be living in a world that’s livable,” Timmermans said. “If we fail, and I mean fail now in the next couple of years, he will fight with other human beings for water and food. That’s the stark reality we face.”
“This is personal,” he stressed, noting that the consequences of climate change would be even more dire for representatives of low-lying Pacific islands and other nations vulnerable to flooding “because you’re standing with your feet in the water.”
Timmermans called for “strong action on coal power and subsidies for fossil fuels” to be included in the final agreement, and called for holding all major emitters accountable.
With AP
UK PM urges 'cash on the table' to secure climate deal
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says coming up with more money for countries at greatest risk from climate change is key to securing a deal at COP26
As negotiators strained to reach consensus among almost 200 nations, Johnson said the developing world “needs to see the cash on the table.”
He said: “That’s what needs to happen in the next few hours. People need to see that there’s enough cash to make a start, and there’s enough commitment to make a start.”
Johnson, who is not in Glasgow, said he is pressing world leaders to do more. He spoke on Friday with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
He urged countries to agree to the draft text of the final summit agreement, which is still being tweaked. The conference is scheduled -- but unlikely -- to end at 7pmCET on Friday.
“We either find a way of agreeing it or we risk blowing it,” Johnson said.
He said: “If they can have the courage to do this deal, to agree the cover decision that’s on the table today, then we will have a road map that will enable us to go forward and start to remove the threat of anthropogenic climate change.”
With AP
Activists concerned about 'loopholes' on carbon markets text
Climate activists expressed concerns about possible loopholes in agreements for international cooperation on emissions reduction, which includes the rules for carbon markets.
Businesses are particularly keen to balance out excess emissions by paying others not to emit a similar amount.
“The invitation to greenwash through carbon offsetting risks making a farce of the Paris Agreement,” said Louisa Casson of Greenpeace.
“If this goes ahead, governments are giving big polluters a free pass to pollute under the guise of being ‘carbon neutral’, without actually having to reduce emissions.”
With AP
What does the draft decision say about climate targets?
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A hectare of hemp sequesters almost twice as much carbon as a forest, prompting calls from UK farmers to loosen its regulation.Activist Vanessa Nakate scolds world leaders in impassioned speech
“The latest available science tells us that in order to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis, we must reduce global CO2 emissions by somewhere between 7% to 11% this year, and next year, and every year after year, until we get to zero,” Ugandan youth activist Vanessa Nakate told business and political leaders in an impassioned speech at COP26 yesterday.
"So I hope you can understand why many of the activists who are here in Glasgow, and millions of activists who could not be here, do not see the success that is being applauded within these halls,” said Nakate.
“Where I live, a two-degree world means that a billion people will be affected by extreme heat stress,” she went on.
“Some places in the global south will regularly reach a wet-bulb temperature of 35 degrees Celsius," she said.
Nakate called for “drastic action (that) will pull us back from the abyss,” saying past promises on climate change had been repeatedly broken.
“I’m actually here to beg you to prove us wrong,” the 24-year-old said. “We desperately need you to prove us wrong. Please prove us wrong. God, help us all, if you fail to prove us wrong. God help us.”
Climate finance: what's in the new draft deal?
The latest draft reflects those concerns, expressing “deep regret” that the $100 billion goal hasn't been met and urging rich countries to scale up their funding.
It also adds wording that could create a fund to compensate countries for serious destruction resulting from climate change.
"We’ve moved from richer nations largely ignoring the pleas of developing countries for promised finance to tackle climate change, to the start of recognition that their calls should be met," tweeted Greenpeace chief Jennifer Morgan.
"Now we need developed countries to scale up their offer of support and finance," she added.
On loss and damage, Global environmental politics expert Jen Allen notes the mention of a "new technical facility."
"This smells like compromise more support for loss and damage, but in the form of a technical support centre, not compensation," she tweeted.
Rich nations such as the United States, who have historically been the biggest source of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, are opposed to any legal obligation to pay for loss and damage suffered by poor countries.
Draft decision's new wording on fossil fuels draws mixed reactions
A new draft of the COP26 cover deal released on Friday appeared to be backing away from a call to end all use of coal and phase out fossil fuel subsidies completely.
The latest draft proposal from the meeting’s chair calls on countries to accelerate "the phaseout of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels."
A previous version published on Wednesday had called on countries to "accelerate the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuel."
“Those qualifiers completely undermine the intention," said Alex Rafalowicz, director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Intiative, an environmental campaign group.
“They’re loopholes so large you could drive a lorry through them,” he said, using the British term for a truck.
Helen Mountford, a senior climate expert at the World Resources Institute, said allowing countries to determine which subsidies they consider inefficient would water down the agreement.
"It definitely weakens it,” she said.
"The key line on phasing out coal and fossil fuel subsidies has been critically weakened, but it’s still there and needs to be strengthened again before this summit closes. That’s going to be a big tussle and one we need to win, " said Greenpeace chief Jennifer Morgan.
The question of how to address the continued use of fossil fuels responsible for much of global warming has been one of the key sticking points at the two-week talks.
With AP
READ: Latest draft COP26 deal waters down language on ending coal use
