Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Rathi: India, China, and US aligned to change 'phase out' to 'phase down'

Akshat Rathi · How the Glasgow climate deal nearly collapsed · Nov 19, 2021 · at 7:37

Bloomberg climate journalist Akshat Rathi describes the closing diplomatic standoff over coal phrasing in the Glasgow Climate Pact at COP26.

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“You know, in the last hours of negotiation on Saturday, there was a fight between India, China, and the U.S. On one side, and all the other countries on the other side to try and change one word from phase out to phase down.”

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The claim, plainly

In the final hours of COP26 negotiations, India, China, and the United States aligned against other nations to change the agreement's coal wording from 'phase out' to 'phase down'.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Contemporaneous diplomatic reporting, official plenary proceedings, and post-summit analyses confirm that in the final hours of COP26 on Saturday, November 13, 2021, India, China, and the United States converged on altering the Glasgow Climate Pact's text regarding unabated coal power from 'phase out' to 'phase down'. The wording originated in the U.S.–China Joint Glasgow Declaration days earlier and was finalized during floor huddles involving U.S. Envoy John Kerry, Chinese Envoy Xie Zhenhua, and Indian Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, before being formally introduced from the plenary floor by India with China's backing and defended by the U.S., despite vocal objections and sorrow from more climate-vulnerable nations.

On November 10, 2021, the U.S.–China Joint Glasgow Declaration introduced the commitment to 'phase down coal consumption', laying the groundwork for the textual compromise.
During plenary floor huddles on Saturday, November 13, 2021, envoys from India, China, and the United States (along with the EU and the COP presidency) agreed to replace 'phase out' with 'phase down' in paragraph 36.
Indian Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav formally introduced the oral amendment to 'phase down', which was supported by China and defended by U.S. Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry during the closing plenary despite objections from vulnerable island states and European delegates.

Checked against

[1] climatecooperation.cn [2] state.gov [3] carbonbrief.org [4] cfr.org [5] un.org [6] bkktribune.com [7] policymagazine.ca [8] climatechangenews.com

COP26 coal phase out phase down US China India agreement negotiation floor huddle "huddle" COP26 "phase down" "Kerry" "Bhupender Yadav" "phase down" coal US China joint declaration Glasgow COP26 "Kerry" "phase down" "phase out" COP26 coal "US-China" declaration "aligned" "India" "China" "United States" "phase down" "phase out" COP26 "US" "China" "India" "phase down" "phase out" coal "Kerry" "Glasgow" "phase out" "phase down" "Kerry" "huddle" India China "Glasgow" coal COP26 phase out phase down India China United States Kerry November 13 2021

assessed as of 2026-09-02

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China COP26 India U.S.

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