Cop26 in extra time as leaders warn of the deadly cost of failure

Delegates are told they must reach a deal to limit global heating or future generations will be forced into violent competition for resourcesChildren born today will be fighting each other for food and water in 2050 if the Cop26 climate summit fails, exhausted delegates were told as negotiators fight over the final details of a potential deal.The deadline for the fortnight-long talks to finish came and went as leading figures took to the floor for what they hoped would be the final time, to exhort each other to cooperate in the interests of people threatened by the climate crisis around the world.Developing country concerns that their needs for finance to adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis are being overlooked. They want at least a doubling of the finance available for adaptation, and want to open up discussions on how to vastly increase the $100bn a year in climate finance, from public and private sources, that was promised them in 2009 for delivery from 2020, but which on current estimates will not be fulfilled until 2023.Loss and damage, the term for the impacts of the climate crisis too severe for countries to prepare for or adapt to them. The G77 + China bloc of developing nations - which represents 85% of humanity - are very unhappy about current plans for this subject, which they see as the compensation for climate disasters that rich nations have a moral duty to pay. The Guinea delegate, speaking for the bloc, wants the establishment of a "loss and damage facility", likely to mean an actual fund rather than measure to work towards one.Article 6 of the Paris agreement, which deals with carbon trading. Some countries want to use carbon offsetting to make up some of their commitments to reduce emissions, but others fear that the proposed rules would lead to a flood of cheap carbon credits that do not represent genuine emissions reductions.Disagreements over how countries should measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions. Known as the transparency and accountability provisions, these are also regarded as crucial because some countries are suspected of under-reporting their emissions. Continue reading...