Highlights and images for 3 November 2021

Negotiations took center stage at the Glasgow Climate Change Conference on Wednesday. After two days of speeches and announcements from world leaders, the meeting returned to a more familiar pace. Deliberations focused on several of the issues that many see as integral to a successful outcome at COP 26.

Highlights included:

• Negotiations on finance, Article 6 (cooperative approaches), and transparency; and
• Earth Information Day and other events around the venue.

You can also dive deeper by reading the full ENB daily report.

Negotiations

Throughout the day, there were negotiations on Article 6 (cooperative approaches). These negotiations aim to set the operational rules needed to ensure robust market and non-market mechanisms under the Paris Agreement. Much of the discussion focused on Article 6.2, which outlines rules around “internationally transferred mitigation outcomes” (ITMOs), credits that one country can buy from another to help meet their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) or other climate goals. The discussions sought to ensure that such a market can help countries pursue ambitious emissions reduction goals, but also that the market will protect environmental integrity. There was particular attention to rules aimed at avoiding double counting, that is, when emissions reductions are counted by both the country selling the credit and the country purchasing the credit.

Discussions on finance centered on ex ante transparency (Article 9.5) under the Paris Agreement, or up-front information of how much, and how, developed countries intend to provide climate finance. This is important to help developing countries plan their mitigation and adaptation activities, and also helps  developed countries coordinate their climate finance spending. Countries considered this for the first time, with a positive, if initial, exchange of views.

Around the venue

Earth Information Day is a regular event on COP agendas. It is an opportunity to exchange information on the state of the global climate system and on developments in systematic observation. The events helped put science in the context of the Paris Agreement to identify challenges and opportunities to improve our understanding of the climate system in relation to the Paris Agreement’s goals.

The 4th High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on Climate Finance, a mandated event convened by the COP Presidency, featured panels on enhancing support for developing countries and realizing the USD 100 billion goal, supporting a financial system for a resilient, net-zero future, and scaling climate finance to mobilize the trillions needed for developing countries. Insights on climate finance flows included that, although climate finance continues to grow, accessing funds remains a challenge and finance flowing to emissions-intensive industries remains “concerningly high.”