British Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow on Wednesday to issue a last-ditch call on countries to pull out all the stops just as the first draft of an agreement is issued. The draft, dubbed "cover decision", sets out what negotiators hope will be the outcome of the COP26 talks and encourages the developed world to scale up support for the developing world. It sets out a central ambition for countries to cut emissions to avoid temperature rises of above 1.5 degrees Celsius.

"We need to pull out all the stops if we're going to keep 1.5C within our grasp, said Johnson, as the draft was released. Negotiating teams are doing the hard yards in these final days of COP26 to turn promises into action on climate change. There's still much to do," he said.

"Today I'll be meeting with ministers and negotiators to hear about where progress has been made and where the gaps must be bridged. This is bigger than any one country and it is time for nations to put aside differences and come together for our planet and our people," he added.

Negotiators from 197 parties, including India, are in intensive talks to reach agreement on a range of key issues, including a common time frame for national commitments on emissions reductions and agreed methodology for countries to report on their climate action. These important technical points will help to ensure that commitments are translated into action. India's stance is for the cover decisions of COP26 to remain within the confines of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement from 2015.

The negotiators are also working to agree progress on finance for nations most vulnerable to climate change and to address the issue of loss and damage in developing countries. Downing Street said the negotiations have been running alongside a series of government and private sector commitments on coal, cars, cash and trees made throughout the two weeks of COP26 under the UK's presidency, with the goal of keeping the 1.5C target alive.

In Glasgow, Boris Johnson will be joined by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and also meet with representatives from the heads of delegations' negotiating teams and the observer groups. India's Chief Negotiator at the talks, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Additional Secretary Richa Sharma, has been leading the discussions and earlier this week spoke of a more serious approach to climate finance on behalf of the BASIC countries comprising Brazil, South Africa, India and China.

The 26th Conference of Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC opened in Glasgow with the World Leaders' Summit last week and is set to conclude on Friday.

PTI