The first week of the Glasgow Climate Change Conference saw negotiations take center stage on Wednesday, 3 November, after two days of speeches and announcements from world leaders. Subsidiary bodies were required to conclude their work by Saturday, 6 November. The second week will feature another more political phase as ministerial dialogues begin.

Intense consultations took place throughout the week on several major agenda items, such as transparency, finance – including the process for a new collective quantified goal on climate finance – and Article 6 (cooperative approaches). On Saturday evening, 6 November, the closing plenaries of the SBSTA and the SBI adopted most decisions and referred Article 6, transparency, adaptation, response measures, and common time frames to the second week of the Glasgow Climate Change Conference.

Among other issues highlighted during the ENB COP 26 mid-point webinar:

• the negotiations on the collective quantified goal on climate finance are seeking to set up a process for deciding what the goal will be;
• a global goal on adaptation is on the agenda for the first time;
• the negotiators on Article 6 are optimistic that they will be able to reach an agreement by the end of the COP although ministers are likely to have to get involved with some outstanding issues, which include trading mitigation credits, whether a portion of the trades will be used for adaptation, corresponding adjustments, safeguards for human rights and indigenous peoples, emissions removals, and non-market based approaches;
• most of the substantive work on loss and damage was concluded Saturday night, although some decisions remain, including which body will govern this issue;
• common timeframes for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) is likely to be part of the final package to be agreed during the final week and there is a push to get it solved in Glasgow;
• a “covering decision” is under consideration, with sections proposed on topics including adaptation finance, mitigation, loss and damage, technology, and collaboration. 

COP 26 Youth Day took place on Friday, 5 November, with a 10,000-person ‘Fridays for Future’ march in the streets outside the Conference venue. The next day, an estimated 150,000 people marched through the streets of Glasgow for the Global Day of Action on climate, while negotiators tried to resolve outstanding issues before the closing plenaries of the subsidiary bodies on Saturday evening. [ENB coverage of COP 26]