The COP26 summit has triggered a linguistic debate after a draft of the closing agreement of the climate change talks was updated on Friday. The latest draft replaced the word “urges” with “requests” to call on 196 countries to announce even more ambitious emissions reduction plans.  “You know in common English, ‘urge’ is stronger,” said Environmental Defense Fund Vice President Kelley Kizzier. She said diplomats had told her “request” is like a legal requirement, compared to the encouragement of “urge.”

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Kizzier, who led carbon market negotiations for the European Union, said the definitional distinction had initially confused her before she got used to the lingo.

“It’s quite a passive-aggressive place,” she said.

Within the context of the closing days of the Glasgow conference, the change would represent a big move, if it stays in the final decision, she said.

In 2015, negotiators debated about requiring new emission-cutting targets in five to 10 years. Now, they are talking about one year, Kizzier said.

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The UN considers “requests” to be weaker than “urges”, a view also held by Helen Mountford at the US non-profit World Resources Institute, according to New Scientist. Richie Merzian, a former Australian government representative to the UN climate change conference, feels “requests” carries more heft.

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US climate secretary John Kerry said his country is backing part of the draft that calls for phasing out use of “unabated” coal and ending at least some fossil fuel subsidies by governments.

“We’re not talking about eliminating” coal, Kerry told counterparts in the closing hours of the conference.

Around 120 world leaders and thousands of delegates are attending the climate talks, which have seen more than 80 countries pledge to cut methane emissions by 30% by the end of 2030 in what US President Joe Biden termed as as a “game-changing commitment.”

More than 100 world leaders also pledged at the COP26 summit to halt and reverse deforestation by the end of next decade.

The United Nations has warned that failure to keep global warming under the 1.5C limit would prove catastrophic.

(With AP Inputs)