COP26 head Alok Sharma delays “stocktake” at climate summit for more talks

Britain’s COP26 president, Alok Sharma, delayed a stocktake of the local weather talks on Saturday, saying delegations wanted extra time to debate points to get nearer to agreeing a deal to finish a United Nations summit in Glasgow.

After the so-called casual stocktaking plenary was delayed by delegations having chats on the ground of the summit corridor for greater than 90 minutes, Sharma stated: “I’ve determined that I believe it could be helpful to permit a bit of bit extra time for these discussions to happen.”

“It’s my intention that we are going to shut this COP this afternoon. It will shut, and on the finish of the day, what’s being put ahead here’s a balanced package deal, everybody’s had an opportunity to have their say.”

The plenary would restart at 1430 GMT, he added.