After a good night's sleep, COP26 negotiators hope to push climate talks over the line

Negotiators streamed into the venue for the U.N. climate talks early Saturday, hoping that a good night's sleep would help them seal a deal that could credibly be said to boost the world's efforts to tackle global warming.

Protesters outside the venue of the COP26 on the last day of the climate conference that didn't yield the results everybody had hoped for. © RFI/Jan van der Made

British officials chairing the talks in Glasgow, Scotland, broke with the habit of previous talks by telling negotiators from almost 200 nations late Friday to go and get some rest, rather than power through the night.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that he believes “an ambitious outcome is in sight” at the two-week talks, which are now in overtime.

Nine de Pater, researcher and campaigner climate and energy for Friends of the Earth, at the COP26 in Glasgow, 12 November 2021. © RFI/Jan van der Made

Earlier in de COP, when the PMs and the Presidents were here, we heard a lot of ambitious words, a lot of 'green talk' but we didn't really see that reflected in the negotiations.

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Podcast: Nine de pater, researcher climate and energy with Friends of the Earth

Divisions remain

Countries remained divided on three main topics: financial aid for poor nations; including mention of a coal phaseout and an end to fossil fuel subsidies generally in the final agreement; and the question of how soon nations have to come back with new targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

"We noticed a lot of ambitious words, a lot of 'green talk,' but we didn't really see that reflected in the negociations," Nina de Pater, researcher and campaigner climate and energy for the NGO Friends of the Earth told RFI.

"So in the latest wrap up paper, the conclusion that are now being drafted, we don't really see the ambition that we heard in the beginning.

"For example, the phase-out of fossil fuels is not even mentioned, although we all know that it is that what we need to be able to prevent major climate change from happening," she says.

Protesters outside the COP26 venue, Glasgow, 12 November 2021. © RFI/Jan van der Made

Scientists say the world is not on track to achieve the 2015 Paris accord's ambitious goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century compared with pre-industrial times.