First Minister fears COP26 will fail to help the world's poorest fight climate change

The climate talks in Glasgow are set to run over

Author: Rob WallerPublished 12th Nov 2021

Nicola Sturgeon says it would be "shameful' if the Cop26 summit in Glasgow ends without rich countries dong more to help the world's poorest and most vulnerable countries to mitigate the impact of climate change.

The First Minister said the Scottish Government's decision to commit an extra £3 million a year to the Climate Justice Fund - and increase of one third - and said it was a challenge for other developed nations to follow suit.

At previous Cop summit in Copenhagen in 2009 there was a pledge to give developing countries $100 billion year to adapt to rising global temperatures.

However, a report for the UN last year concluded that "the only realistic scenarios" showed that promise was set to be broken.

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Finance is key to fighting climate change

Speaking at a Cop26 event alongside the Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate, she said: "We've benefited through generations from the emissions that have been pumped into the atmosphere and countries like Vanessa's are now paying the price.

"Finance is key to this, not as an act of charity, but as an act of reparation.

"There are many things that Glasgow has to achieve and I hope we will see them achieved over the next 40 hours or so.

"But one relatively straightforward thing which should be achieved - and there is no excuse for not achieving - is meeting that 100 billion-dollar commitment.

"It was made 12 years ago - it will be shameful if we come out of this Cop without that commitment being met."

"Step up in Glasgow and let the rich countries start to pay their debt to the developing and vulnerable countries across the world.

"It is no longer good enough and there is no longer any excuse for not doing so."

Will Cop26 go into extra time?

The Cop26 climate talks are entering their final scheduled day with the summit's president warning there is still "a monumental challenge ahead".

The talks are scheduled to finish at 6pm on Friday, but could overrun as negotiators come under pressure to resolve issues around finance for poor countries, calls for accelerating the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies and coal, and the efforts of countries to cut emissions in the 2020s.

A new version of the overarching deal that could be agreed at the summit in Glasgow is expected overnight into Friday.

The first draft of the "cover decision" urges countries to "revisit and strengthen" targets for cutting emissions by 2030 in their national plans, to align them by the end of 2022 with the Paris goal of keeping temperature rises to "well below 2C" or to 1.5C.

Some of the most vulnerable nations have raised concerns about the lack of detail.

It is thought the commitment to phase out fossil fuels, the first time this has appeared in such a text, is unlikely to make it into the final document.

Cop26 president Alok Sharma warned: "We still have a monumental challenge ahead of us, but collectively we have no choice but to rise to that challenge and strain every sinew to achieve a timely outcome that we can all be proud of.

"Because ultimately, this outcome, whatever it is, will belong to all of us."

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Protesters at the Greenwash march organised by Extinction Rebellion

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Cop26 protest on the steps of Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

An activist taking part in a protest outside the Cop26 venue on the last day of climate talks