Washington’s deliberate and unprecedented boycott of the leaders’ summit created a negotiating vacuum that allowed emerging powers such as China, India, and even a constrained European Union, to exert far greater influence than usual over the outcome.
The COP Presidency, in a statement, announced the temporary closure of the venue to prevent the situation from turning uglier.
While COP26 had managed to achieve significant procedural and institutional outcomes, it had fallen short of achieving substantive outcomes which could reflect the imperative of climate justice.
Union Environment minister Bhupendra Yadav said: "We are on track to achieve and even exceed our targets (Nationally Determined Contributions) under the Paris Agreement to combat climate change."
