Maldives minister: negotiators reach deal on climate fund
World
Maldives minister: negotiators reach deal on climate fund
SHARM EL-SHEIKH (AP) — Negotiators say they have struck a potential breakthrough deal on the thorniest issue of United Nations climate talks, creation of a fund for compensating poor nations that are victims of extreme weather worsened by rich nations’ carbon pollution.
“There is an agreement on loss and damage,” which is what negotiators call the concept, Maldives Environment Minister Aminath Shauna told The Associated Press Saturday. It still needs to be approved unanimously in a vote later today. “That means for countries like ours we will have the mosaic of solutions that we have been advocating for.”
Saturday afternoon’s draft proposal came from the Egyptian presidency. A second overarching document from the climate talks leadership ignores India’s call to phase down oil and natural gas, in addition to last year’s agreement to wean the world from “unabated” coal.
According to the draft of the compensation proposal — the issue is called “loss and damage” in negotiations parlance — developed countries would be “urged” to contribute to the fund, which would also draw on other private and public sources of money such as international financial institutions. At the talks, the world’s poorest nations, which contributed little to historic emissions of heat-trapping gases, have been unified in insisting on such a fund.
“We managed to make progress on an important outcome,” said Wael Aboulmagd, who heads Egyptian delegation. “I think we’re getting there.”
However, the proposal does not suggest that major emerging economies such as China have to contribute to the fund, which was a key ask of the European Union and the United States.
It also does not tie the creation of the new fund to any increase in efforts to cut emissions, or restrict the recipients of funding to those countries that are most vulnerable, which had been an earlier proposal from the Europeans.
Two drafts released by the Egyptian presidency, on efforts to step up emissions cuts and the overarching decision of this year’s talks, barely build on what was agreed in Glasgow last year.
The texts leave in place a reference to the Paris accords less ambitious goal of limiting global warming to “well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit)” which scientists say is far too risky.
They also don’t suggest any new short-term targets for either developing or developed countries, which experts say are needed to achieve the more ambitious 1.5C (2.7F) goal that would prevent some of the more extreme effects of climate change.
Loss and damage has been the all-consuming issue at the two weeks of talks.
The EU made a surprise proposal days earlier tying a fund for climate disasters to emissions cuts that go beyond what the 2015 Paris climate agreement calls for. That landmark deal aims to limit global temperature increases to an ambitious 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), and no change this year could be interpreted as not strengthening efforts.
The meeting known as COP27 opened two weeks ago and had been scheduled to wrap up on Friday but looks set to drag on through the weekend.
