Nearly 200 nations agreed to adopt the Glasgow Climate pact

Nearly 200 nations agreed to adopt the Glasgow Climate pact on Saturday after more than two weeks of intense negotiations, with the UK host of the talks saying the deal would keep alive international hopes of averting the worst impacts of global warming. Earlier, Delegates worked overtime on Saturday to reach a final deal at the U.N. climate conference.

COP26 was to close on Friday evening but negotiations stretched overnight, with deep divergences that couldn’t be resolved even as COP26 president Alok Sharma insisted “parties have different priorities, but we have to sign up to the same view. We have reached a comprehensive, balanced outcome. The text is now clear of brackets and is a result of a transparent, party driven process”. Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav, head of the Indian delegation, made an intervention on inequitable aspects of the draft text. “Consensus has remained elusive. Climate friendly lifestyles and climate justice is enshrined in the Paris Agreement are key to solving the climate crisis. The crisis is caused by unsustainable lifestyles and wasteful consumption patterns. The world needs to awaken to this reality,” he said, adding that “fossil fuels and their use has enabled parts of the world to attain high levels of wealth and wellbeing… when we have taken economy wide targets, targeting any particular sector is uncalled for”.

Yadav said that towards poverty eradication, subsidies to certain fossil fuels provide much-needed social security and support. China also said the text was by no means perfect but it said it was willing to engage with other parties on concerns with the text. China insisted the expressions in the G20 statement on climate can be reflected in the Glasgow cover text. US special envoy on climate John Kerry said the China-US deal in Glasgow showed that despite conflict, countries can come together on the climate crisis, reach above conflict and differences to find common ground.