Negotiators begin work on draft cover text as Week 1 ends

NEW DELHI: Negotiators and ministers from 194 parties will on Saturday begin working out the draft cover text of the COP27 UN climate summit as the first week of events and announcements come to a close at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. Negotiators had already started discussing issues that will be the presented in the COP27 resolution at the end of next week.

“Cover decision negotiations will begin tomorrow. It’s still a very long way to go to see what finds space there,” said a negotiator from one of the South American countries on Friday.

“Developed countries are likely to push for text on fossil fuel subsidies, coal phase down, methane pledges and other items from the Glasgow Pact such as keeping the 1.5-degree Celsius goal alive,” said an independent observer who did not wish to be named.

“Developing countries will push for equity and common but differentiated responsibilities to be highlighted in mitigation measures. Another red line may be the push to expand donor base for climate and adaptation finance,” the observer added.

There is a subtle push from developed countries to include China and India in the donor base for the new finance target,

New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), for 2025 onwards, which will start at $100 billion per year. There is also a push, observers said, to increase the donor base for the Adaptation Fund, which is supposed to help developing countries adapt to the effects of climate change.

Over 300 phrases in the draft section on the mitigation work programme - which talks about urgently scaling up action to meet Paris Agreement goals - are currently bracketed, which essentially means that they are not agreed upon.

The draft cover text also says urgent action across all sectors is needed on 1.5 degree Celsius goal and that current policies and measures are insufficient for achieving the goal, adding that the window of opportunity for achieving climate resilient development is closing. These are not bracketed.

“Some pretty punchy draft text here on 1.5C & need for ‘urgent action across all sectors & covering all GHGS’ – and it isn’t bracketed,” said Simon Evans, deputy editor, Carbon Brief, in a post on Twitter.

A number of important issues could be left out to make space in the final document, including a funding facility for loss and damage; scaling up action on adaptation of climate impacts; climate financing, specifically the new, collective, quantified goal for post-2025 period; and, possibly, a decision on safeguarding carbon offset markets, observers said.