World News | Egypt’s climate negotiators say they are nowhere near a deal

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Nov. 17 (AP) With just one day left in climate talks scheduled for Egypt, diplomats say they are far from a deal everyone can agree on, especially in the In the case of confrontation between developed and developing countries over compensation for climate disasters.

Poorer countries bearing the brunt of climate change, including rising sea levels and extreme flooding, added more urgency, blaming richer polluters for delays and saying they could not wait another year for a fund to pay for the damage. Some said they were prepared to cancel the final agreement if it did not include the fund, while some richer countries threatened to put obstacles in the way of fiscal proposals by some poorer countries.

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The Egypt-led summit, known as COP27, also faced criticism after it submitted a draft 20-page overall cover document earlier on Thursday, which delegates said was too long, vague and confusing. Negotiations were so tenuous that the summit chair held an hours-long meeting of the nations’ chief officials on Thursday afternoon in an attempt to move things forward.

So far, it hasn’t quite worked.

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During a break in these meetings, Norway’s chief negotiator Henrik Halgrim-Eriksen summed it up like this: “We have a lot of work to do. It’s not in the right shape. It takes a lot to keep it in good shape.” Work. It’s long. And it’s not well structured.”

Tuvalu’s finance minister, Seve Paeniu, expressed concern about the length of the draft in an interview with The Associated Press, noting that Egypt’s president has less than 48 hours left to present it.

Negotiators were also surprised by an idea in the Egyptian draft that was never discussed during the two-week talks.

These include calls for developed countries to “be net negative carbon emissions by 2030” – a far tougher goal than any major power has committed to so far, and one that will be very difficult to achieve. For example, the European Union and the United States say they aim to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, and China by 2060.

The head of the European Parliament described the document at the UN climate conference as “a wish list” with “all themes”.

Bas Eirkhout said it was “too broad, with too many themes, too vague a language, and too many projects, that I don’t think any of that had to be included in the cover decision.”

The meeting was supposed to end on Friday, but past meetings have been extended to reach an agreement.

Alden Meyer, a longtime negotiating analyst at E3G, said that, unlike in previous years, the meeting chair, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, delayed convening a task force of ministers to push for solutions to major issues, other than loss and damage, which would take everything later.

Senior Western officials, including EU climate chief Frans Timmermans, met with Shoukry and warned that “many gaps remain” in the draft.

Timmermans said there was a “misunderstanding” about the Egyptian text.

“It wasn’t really a proposal,” Timmermans told reporters. “It’s just putting together all the stuff they’ve received, and they’re sending it out to all parties.”

According to Sharma’s office, Timmerman, Canadian climate minister Steven Gilbeau and British climate minister Alok Sharma, who chaired talks in Glasgow last year, told Egypt’s foreign minister: “No one wants to see this treaty Party meeting ended without consensus.”

Meyer said there have been at least six instances of countries taking hard, seemingly inflexible positions to “hijack negotiations.”

Marshall Islands climate envoy Kathy Jetn¯il-Kijiner said this year’s meeting must agree on a climate disaster compensation fund, or “loss and damage,” in the words of negotiators.

“Waiting for the next COP or even COP29 is not an option for us. We will not walk away without this funding,” she told a news conference. “We’ve been very clear. We need funds now, and it has to be funds.”

The Marshall Islands are a chain of islands between Hawaii and the Philippines, most of which are no higher than two meters (6.5 feet) above sea level.

Pakistan’s climate change minister echoed the call. Pakistan was hit by devastating floods this summer that submerged a third of its territory, killed more than 1,700 people and caused more than $30 billion in damage.

Sherry Rehman said “time is ticking” not just for this series of talks but for “all of humanity”.

“What happens in Pakistan will not stay in Pakistan,” she said. “The dystopia that came to our doorstep will come to everyone’s doorstep.”

The United States is resisting any fund that would suggest liability and compensation — let alone compensation — for decades of greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized nations.

European countries back the island’s call for a “mosaic” financial arrangement using public and private funding sources.

But there is wide disagreement over who should pay.

German Foreign Minister Annalene Belbock said the money should come not only from industrialized countries but also from major emerging economies whose greenhouse gas emissions have risen sharply in recent decades.

However, heavy polluters China and India argue that they should not contribute because they are still officially considered developing countries.

Pakistan’s Rahman told reporters that the group of countries she chairs, the G77 and China, wanted to “declare at least politically the intention” for rich polluters to provide new financial aid to poor countries to combat the effects of global warming .

She made it clear that she did not think the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting would generate “significant amounts of money”, but added, “If this matter continues to be put on hold, we will consider it a denial of justice.”

Antigua and Barbuda’s Health, Care and Environment Minister Malvern Joseph said, “Anything that does not establish a loss and damage fund at this COP is treachery.”

Loss and damage issues are one of three financial aid discussions. Rich countries agreed at past meetings to spend $100 billion a year to help poorer countries develop cleaner energy systems and adapt to future disasters — though they have lagged in delivering the money.

According to Yamide Dagnet of the Open Society Foundations, a longtime climate negotiator, developed countries have shown more openness on the issue of “loss and damage”.

“But the fear of reparations and liability remains a sword of Damocles to overcome,” said Dagnett, a former EU negotiator at the talks.

“After decades of delaying tactics with the support of other developed countries, the United States may be most concerned about how much it can concede in loss and damage,” she said. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the body of content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)