Challenging Climate Negotiations Deliver Limited Progress Toward COP26

The briefing evaluates the virtual UN Climate Change subsidiary bodies sessions, noting that while substantive discussions occurred, significant divides between developed and developing nations persisted. Key areas of limited progress include the Paris Agreement Rulebook, carbon markets under Article 6, and the delivery of climate finance. The document highlights logistical hurdles of virtual negotiations and a perceived imbalance in the agenda, which sidelined critical issues like loss and damage and the global goal on adaptation, leaving substantial political and technical work for COP26 in Glasgow.

• Virtual negotiations faced significant logistical and political hurdles, including technical failures and a lack of informal interactions, which hindered bridge-building between countries.
• Developing countries expressed concern over an imbalanced agenda that excluded priority topics such as the $100-billion climate finance goal, loss and damage, and the global goal on adaptation.
• Progress on the Paris Agreement Rulebook was limited, specifically regarding the enhanced transparency framework and Article 6 carbon markets, where issues like double counting and human rights safeguards remain unresolved.
• While there was broad agreement on the importance of non-state actor input for the first global stocktake, countries failed to consolidate proposals for common time frames for NDCs.
• Discussions on climate finance highlighted persistent barriers for developing countries, including debt stress caused by the increasing use of loans and the lack of a settled definition of climate finance.
• Negotiations on 'response measures' regarding the impacts of climate action stalled due to disagreements over COVID-19 related delays, despite developing countries' desire to address just transition and cross-border measures like Carbon Border Adjustment Measures.
• China's insistence on closing sessions regarding the enhanced transparency framework to observers was seen as undermining the inclusive nature of the UN process.

APA

World Resources Institute (2021). Challenging Climate Negotiations Deliver Limited Progress Toward COP26. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/challenging-climate-negotiations-deliver-limited-progress-toward-cop26

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Challenging Climate Negotiations Deliver Limited Progress Toward COP26. 2021. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/challenging-climate-negotiations-deliver-limited-progress-toward-cop26.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Challenging Climate Negotiations Deliver Limited Progress Toward COP26 |date=21 June 2021 |url=https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/challenging-climate-negotiations-deliver-limited-progress-toward-cop26 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2021challenging, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Challenging Climate Negotiations Deliver Limited Progress Toward COP26}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/challenging-climate-negotiations-deliver-limited-progress-toward-cop26}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }