After two weeks of tense negotiations, the COP27 climate summit in Egypt has ended with mixed results. The talks were supposed to end on Friday, but they went through Friday night and then through Saturday night. At 4:15 am on Sunday, the gavel finally came down on the “loss and damage” deal.
Over a decade ago, richer countries agreed to provide $100 billion a year to developing nations to reduce emissions by the end of 2020. But developing nations have been calling for much more and asked for additional payments for “loss and damage.”
The world leaders made progress at COP27 by agreeing to create a new global fund to support developing countries hit by climate change. Developed countries such as US and Britain will help foot the bill for damage caused by global warming.
However, no deal was reached to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Many nations wanted the targets for emission reductions to be much stronger. Larger developing economies such as India and China have so far been reluctant to agree to phase out the most polluting fossil fuels.
To minimize the climate damage, scientists say, countries need to limit global warming to 1.5C —this was first agreed at the Paris climate conference seven years ago. Despite this, there were no further cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, other than what had already been agreed at COP26 in Glasgow last year.
“Emissions peaking before 2025, as the science tells us is necessary. Not in this text. Clear follow-through on the phase down of coal. Not in this text. A clear commitment to phase down all fossil fuels? Not in this text,” said the UK’s Climate Envoy, Alok Sharma.
There have been questions in Sharm el-Sheikh over whether the COP system is delivering. The true impact of all of this will be seen at COP28 next year in Dubai, the Arab Emirates, a leading oil and gas producer.
