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For the first time, nations around the world decided to help pay for the toll of a hot world on poor countries, but they concluded marathon climate talks on Sunday without further addressing the root cause of these scourges – the burning of fossil fuels.
The deal was struck at dawn in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, setting up a fund for what negotiators say is loss and damage.
It is a huge win for poorer countries that have long appealed for cash – sometimes seen as reparations – because they are often victims of climate-worsening floods, droughts, heat waves, famines and storms, despite their concerns about Increased pollution contributes little globally.
It has also long been known as a fairness issue for countries affected by extreme weather and small island states facing existential threats to rising sea levels.
“After three years, we have finally achieved climate justice,” said Tuvalu’s Finance Minister Seve Paeniu. “We are finally answering the call of hundreds of millions of people around the world to help them cope with loss and damage.”
Pakistan’s environment minister, Sherry Rehman, said the fund was set up “not for handouts”.
“This is clearly a down payment on a long-term investment in our shared future,” she said, representing a coalition of the world’s poorest countries.
Molwyn Joseph, president of the Organization of Small Island States in Antigua and Barbuda, described the deal as “a victory for our entire world”.
“We show those who feel left out that we hear you, we see you, and we are giving you the respect and care you deserve,” he said.
The deal comes after a game of climate change chickens versus fossil fuels.
Delegates approved the compensation fund early Sunday morning, but have yet to address contentious issues such as overall temperature targets, emissions reductions and the desire to phase out all fossil fuels. In the middle of the night, the EU and others hit back at what they saw as a rollback in the Egyptian president’s overarching cover deal and threatened to derail the rest of the process.
The package was amended again, removing much of what the Europeans objected to but adding nothing of the higher ambition they had hoped for.
“What we have in front of us is not enough to take humanity and the planet one step forward,” EU executive vice-president Frans Timmermans told his negotiating partners with disappointment. sufficient additional effort to increase and accelerate their reduction.
“None of us has acted to avoid and minimize loss and damage,” Mr Timmermans said. “We should be doing more.”
German Foreign Minister Annalene Berberk also expressed disappointment.
“It’s frustrating to see overdue mitigation and fossil fuel phase-outs being blocked by many big emitters and oil producers,” she said.
While many countries have called for a gradual reduction in the use of natural gas, the agreement implicitly refers to the benefits of natural gas as a low-emission energy source that does contribute to climate change.
While the new agreement does not raise calls for emissions reductions, it does retain language that maintains the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
The Egyptian president has been putting forward proposals dating back to the 2015 Paris language, which also mentioned a 2 degree easing target. The world has warmed by 1.1 degrees (2 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times.
The agreement also does not expand on last year’s call for a gradual reduction in the global use of “unreduced coal” despite India and others pushing to include oil and gas in Glasgow’s language. It was also the subject of a last-minute debate that unnerved Europeans in particular.
The president of last year’s climate talks accused the summit leadership of undermining his efforts to cut more emissions by forcing a list of what hadn’t been done.
“Clear follow up on coal phase-down. Not in this paper. Clear commitment to phase out all fossil fuels. Not in this paper. Energy text weakened in final minutes,” said Alok Sharma of the UK.
Speaking to negotiators, UN climate change chief Simon Steele from Grenada called on the world to “move away from fossil fuels, including kerosene and gas”.
However, the fight has been overshadowed by a historic compensation fund.
Maarten van Alst, a climate scientist at the Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Center responsible for addressing climate disasters, said that “amongst the gloom and doom, there are positives to celebrate”, namely that emissions are not being cut fast enough to reduce emissions. Temperature rise is limited to 1.5 degrees.
Next year’s talks will also see further negotiations to work out details of a new loss and damage fund and review the world’s efforts to meet Paris Agreement goals, which scientists say are falling out of reach.
Under the agreement, the fund will initially draw on contributions from developed countries and other private and public sources, including international financial institutions.
While major emerging economies such as China will not automatically contribute, the option remains on the table. It is a key requirement of the European Union and the United States, which argue that China and other big polluters currently classified as developing countries have the financial means and responsibility to pay.
The fund will primarily target the most vulnerable countries, though there is also room for aid in middle-income countries hit hard by climate disasters.
Martin Kaiser, head of Greenpeace Germany, described the agreement on loss and damage as “a small plaster on a huge, open wound”.
“It is a scandal that the Egyptian police presidency has given oil states such as Saudi Arabia the space to undermine effective climate protection,” he said.
Many climate activists worry that pushing for strong action to end the use of fossil fuels will become more difficult at next year’s conference in Dubai in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.
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