COP26 Draft Final Agreement falls spectacularly short on fossil fuels

It comes just days after we revealed that 503 fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to COP26. If the fossil fuel lobby were a country delegation at COP it would be the largest – two dozen more than the largest country delegation.

Murray Worthy, Campaign Leader at Global Witness, said:

“It’s plain to see the impact of the hundreds of fossil fuel lobbyists at the COP in this draft decision. The science is clear – we must phase out all fossil fuels, starting now, if we’re to have a hope of limiting warming to 1.5°C.

“Yet this agreement falls spectacularly short – only calling for an accelerated phase out of coal, and an end to taxpayers bankrolling the fossil fuel industry through subsidies. Emissions from coal are less than half the problem – if the final declaration is to have any credibility it must call for a phase out of all fossil fuels.

“This simply does not match the ambition people all over the world have looked to COP26 for. Nor does it match what is needed to avert the climate crisis the world is currently experiencing.”

Whilst we recognise that this would be the first time fossil fuels have been mentioned in a COP final text, we believe it must go much further and call for a phase out of all fossil fuels, in line with the science, if the world is to keep warming below 1.5°C.