By this he means leaders must agree to shift away from fossil fuels,must accelerate the process of decarbonising transport and industry,must provide more finance to developing nations to help them shift their economies,and must help create carbon sinks by protecting and replanting forests.
It had been hoped that progress on decarbonisation would be made at this weekend’s G20 meeting in Rome.
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In siding with China and India in resisting putting a timeline on the coal phaseout,Australia is signalling that is not in step with the UK and other major western economies on the need to phase out fossil fuels,says Chris Littlecott,a director with the policy institute E3G,which has been advising on the international transition from coal.
“[The position on coal] is revealing Australia is tending to come in with an oppositional approach rather than a constructive approach. It is setting redlines but not saying what it might agree to.
“The feeling I get speaking with diplomats is that they’re gettingfrustrated with Australia’s approach,” he said.
In the hours before the talks begin there is a growing sense of unease in Glasgow that they may fail to deliver the outcomes needed to keep the world on track to holding warming to well below 2 degrees and as close to 1.5 degrees as possible.