SOME COUNTRIES HAVE RESISTED 1.5°C GOAL IN COP27 TEXT: U.S.

SHARM EL SHEIKH, EGYPT: A few countries have resisted mentioning a global goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C in the official text of the COP27 summit in Egypt, US special climate envoy John Kerry said at the conference on Saturday.

“You’re absolutely correct. There are very few countries, but a few, that have raised the issue of not mentioning this word or that word,” Kerry said when asked about opposition by some governments to mentioning the 1.5°C target.

“But the fact is that, in Glasgow that was adopted, the language is there. And I know ... Egypt doesn’t intend to be the country that hosts a retreat from what was achieved in Glasgow,” Kerry said, referring to last year’s COP summit in Scotland.

World governments agreed in 2015 during a UN summit in France to try to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5°C, a deal dubbed the Paris Agreement that was seen as a breakthrough in international climate ambition.

Greenhouse gas emissions have been rising ever since, however, and scientists say the world risks missing the target without swift and deep cuts.