UN Climate Talks Extended as ‘Outstanding Issues’ Remain, Says Egyptian FM
Sameh Shoukry, president of the COP27 climate summit, speaks at the summit, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
As the COP27 climate summit is coming to an end, negotiations are stalling over the most critical and yet controversial issues, such as reaching a concrete agreement on creating a “loss and damage” fund for the most affected countries. However, a delay isn’t unusual in such extensive climate talks.The UN climate talks have been extended by one day in attempt to break a deadlock in negotiations on the issue of financial compensation to the countries affected by climate change and arrive at a fruitful conclusion. The 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) that started on November 6 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt was initially scheduled to end on Friday.Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who is also chairing the COP27, announced that the summit would close at least one day later than planned and called for negotiators to speed up, “shift gears,” and finally come to an agreement on the remaining issues that is acceptable to all as soon as possible. “I remain concerned at the number of outstanding issues, including on finance mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage and their inter linkages,” he said. He also appealed to all the parties involved to “urgently” address sticking points and expressed his hope that the conference would finalize on Saturday. The negotiators are reportedly still struggling to reach an agreement on creating a “loss and damage” fund for countries that suffer the most from the consequences of climate change.Earlier during the conference, African nations called upon the most-polluting developed countries to pay loss and damage funds and compensate fairly. Although African countries produce the least amount of greenhouse gas emissions, according to UN estimates these do not exceed 3% of global emissions, they are affected the most by the consequences of climate change, battered by weather disasters such as severe droughts or devastating floods, and other climate-related issues. Following the demand of developing states, the European Union has accepted the idea of creating a loss and damage fund as a part of its climate change policy – an ambition on curbing global warming.Amid COP27, several industrialized countries have made pledges to provide developing nations with funds for loss and damage. For example, the UK has promised to triple its adaptation finance by 2025. Other European states, such as Austria, Denmark, and Germany, announced extra payments in loss and damage funds.
Sputnik ExplainsCOP27: Will Rich Nations Walk Their ‘Loss and Damage’ Talk or Sweep It Under Rug Again?7 November, 15:55 GMTHowever, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the economic cost of loss and damage in developing countries is expected to be between $1 trillion and $1.8 trillion by 2050. In this regard, the abovementioned commitments are considered to be insufficient in terms of fully covering all the damage. Over the period between 2009 and 2020, developed countries failed to reach climate finance targets, delivering just a fraction of the initial $100 billion sum. As the West continues to fall short on financial pledges to alleviate climate change effects, African nations condemn its reluctance to take responsibility and compensate as promised, claiming that the agreements tend to remain only on paper, while all the decisions should have a force beyond mere words.Last week, South Africa’s environment minister urged developed states to provide immediate climate change help. The minister highlighted the importance of the loss and damage issue and the need to make sure that industrialized countries “do not backslide on the commitments made at COP26.”
