Climate fund breakthrough offers ‘hope’ at UN COP27 talks

With Pakistan and the European Union indicating progress on the divisive topic of “loss and damage” funding for countries that are climate-vulnerable, COP27 host Egypt scrambled to save UN climate talks on Saturday.

Representatives from nearly 200 nations have gathered for two weeks at the COP27 in Egypt with the goal of advancing climate change action as the world faces an increasing number of weather extremes.

But disagreements emerged over raising the bar for tackling global warming as well as the conditions under which wealthy polluters provide “loss and damage” funding for nations hit by natural disasters.

A source from the European Union said that at least the loss and damage issue was “agreed” as far as it was concerned after the bloc flatly rejected a document shown by Egypt overnight over concerns it was weak on reducing emissions.

“A deal has been reached on loss and damage which targets the fund to vulnerable countries,” a European source confirmed.

The agreement needed to be approved at a closing meeting.

The final details are still being worked out to get the final agreement over the finish line, according to Pakistan’s Minister of Climate Change Sherry Rehman, who expressed her “hope of a positive outcome” on loss and damage.

A deal, according to her, would be the result of a 30-year campaign by developing nations.

“If that occurs today, that will be a historic reminder to the world’s most vulnerable people that they have a voice and that if they band together… we can actually start breaking down barriers that we thought were unbreakable,” she told AFP.

Pakistan, which has experienced devastating heat waves and floods this year, serves as the chair of the G77 and China bloc of 134 developing countries, which has vigorously pushed for an agreement on a fund for loss and damage at COP27.

With 1.2C of warming so far, the world has experienced a series of climate-related extremes in recent months, highlighting the plight of developing nations who are dealing with escalating disasters, a crisis in the price of food and energy, and soaring debt.

According to the World Bank, the damage and economic losses from the floods in Pakistan totaled $30 billion.

But the outcome of the climate talks remained uncertain because nations kept voicing their concerns about ambitions on reducing emissions and combating global warming.

An unofficial alliance of “high ambition” nations has demanded strong language on emission reduction, a shift away from fossil fuels that heat the planet, and a reaffirmation of the aspirational target of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Scientists assert that since the world is currently off course and projected to warm by about 2.5C under current commitments and plans, this is a much safer safeguard against catastrophic climate impacts.

Susana Muhamad, the environment minister for Colombia, stated that for the climate talks to be “viable,” there must be a fund for losses and damages as well as a commitment to 1.5C with obvious signs that the world was not “going back.”

A draft document outlining goals for reducing emissions that contribute to global warming, according to Tom Evans of the think tank E3G, is “a copy-paste” of the Glasgow agreement and does not build upon it.

The EU previously stated it was prepared to withdraw entirely from the negotiations due to the problem.

There isn’t enough being done to reduce emissions and maintain 1.5C, the vice president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, warned. “No amount of money on this planet will be able to address the misery that will occur through natural disasters, etc. that we’re already seeing.”