Rich nations hit brakes on climate aid to poor at U.N. talks

Rich countries including the European Union and the United States have pushed back against efforts to put financial help for poor nations suffering the devastating effects of global warming firmly on the agenda for this year’s U.N. climate summit.

Observers and campaigners attending a 10-day preparatory meeting in Bonn, Germany, that wrapped up Thursday expressed frustration at the resistance shown by developed nations to formally discussing how poor countries can get more aid when they’re hit by climate disasters.

“Rich countries, particularly the E.U., spiked the discussion about loss and damage at every single turn,” said Teresa Anderson of the campaign group ActionAid International.

Delegates from developing countries had hoped growing awareness of the severe economic cost that global warming is already having for billions of people around the world would help move the needle on an issue that has long split rich and poor nations.

Those hopes were fueled last month, when officials from the Group of Seven leading economies for the first time acknowledged the need for more public and private money to avert and address the “adverse impacts of climate change.”

The meeting in Bonn, which is home to the U.N. climate office, was designed to lay the foundations for the upcoming climate summit in Egypt’s seaside resort of Sharm-elSheikh in November.

“Whether it was about setting up a new finance facility, providing funds, organizing technical support, or even just including the issue on the agenda for discussion at COP27 later this year, rich countries continued to block, block, block,” Anderson said.

Noting the droughtinduced famine currently threatening millions in the Horn of Africa, she accused rich countries of a “terrifying disconnect” to the real world.

Her comments echoed those of U.N. SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres, who this week accused many governments of “dragging their feet“on climate action.

Seasoned watchers of international climate meetings had cautioned against expecting delegates in

Bonn to make any big progress on long-standing

points of disagreement, particularly those that would entail big financial commitments.

“Many of the issues are above their pay grade,” said Alden Meyer of E3G, an environmental think tank.

Still, the outcome was slimmer than expected, he said.

The issue of ramping up climate aid is likely to come up Friday at a virtual meeting of major economies hosted by U.S. President

Joe Biden, and at the G-7 leaders summit in Germany on June 26-28.

The head of the U.N. climate office, Patricia Espinosa, had urged delegates at the start of the meeting in Bonn not to give in to despair, noting the progress made in recent years in tackling global warming.

WHETHER IT WAS ABOUT SETTING UP A NEW FINANCE FACILITY, PROVIDING FUNDS, ORGANIZING TECHNICAL SUPPORT, ... RICH COUNTRIES CONTINUED TO BLOCK, BLOCK, BLOCK. Teresa Anderson, of ActionAid International

FARAH ABDI WARSAMEH AP A man carries a sack of wheat flour that was imported from Turkey at a market in Mogadishu, Somalia. Delegates from developing countries attending a pre-United Nations summit meeting hope awareness of the severe costs that global warming has for billions of people around the world will help narrow the gap that divides rich and poor nations.

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU AP A young girl must wait for low tide and for the roads to become visible before she can walk safely home from school in Pratap Nagar in the Shyamnagar region of Bangladesh.