INSIDER: 4 Key Topics Climate Negotiators Must Resolve by COP26

This briefing by the World Resources Institute outlines four critical technical and political areas that UN negotiators must resolve by COP26 in November 2021. It reviews the outcomes of the 2020 Climate Dialogues and highlights significant gaps in the Paris Agreement rulebook, climate finance commitments, and mechanisms for loss and damage and adaptation.

• Negotiators must finalize three specific areas of the Paris Agreement rulebook by COP26: establishing common timeframes for 2025 National Determined Contributions (NDCs), detailing the enhanced transparency framework for reporting emissions and support, and determining the operational rules for carbon markets under Article 6.
• Unresolved issues regarding Article 6 carbon markets include preventing double-counting of emissions reductions, ensuring the mechanism leads to overall global emissions reductions rather than just offsetting, establishing a levy on trades to fund adaptation, and clarifying the status of pre-2020 Kyoto Protocol credits.
• Progress on building resilience is focused on two areas: the Adaptation Committee is developing a technical report for 2021 to assess progress toward the global adaptation goal, and an expert group is being established to clarify how developing countries can access funding for loss and damage via the Green Climate Fund.
• There is a significant divide regarding the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage (SNLD); developing countries want a networking platform to connect with experts, while developed countries prefer using existing structures and outside frameworks.
• Developed countries are failing to meet the commitment to mobilize $100 billion annually for developing countries by 2020, with adaptation funding receiving only about 25% of total public climate finance.
• Trust in climate finance has been undermined by the United Kingdom's November 25 decision to reduce its official development assistance from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI and a perceived shift by developed nations toward private finance over public funding.
• The European Union is currently the only developed country grouping to have submitted its mandatory initial biennial communication regarding projected future climate finance provision under the Paris Agreement.

APA

World Resources Institute (2020). INSIDER: 4 Key Topics Climate Negotiators Must Resolve by COP26. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/insider-4-key-topics-climate-negotiators-must-resolve-cop26

Chicago

World Resources Institute. INSIDER: 4 Key Topics Climate Negotiators Must Resolve by COP26. 2020. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/insider-4-key-topics-climate-negotiators-must-resolve-cop26.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=INSIDER: 4 Key Topics Climate Negotiators Must Resolve by COP26 |date=11 December 2020 |url=https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/insider-4-key-topics-climate-negotiators-must-resolve-cop26 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2020insider, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{INSIDER: 4 Key Topics Climate Negotiators Must Resolve by COP26}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2020}, month = dec, url = {https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/insider-4-key-topics-climate-negotiators-must-resolve-cop26}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }