COP27 falls short of goal

For the first time, the nations of the world decided to help pay for the damage that climate change has done to poor countries, but they finished marathon climate talks yesterday with a deal that does not further address the root cause of global warming – the burning of fossil fuels.

The decision, which focuses on the effects of climate change, establishes a fund for what negotiators call loss and damage. It is a big win for poorer nations which have long called for cash – sometimes viewed as reparations – because they are often the victims of climate worsened floods, droughts, heat waves, famines and storms despite having contributed little to the pollution that heats up the globe.

The Sunday dawn agreement struck in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh is a victory for developing nations that have for decades fought for some form of compensation for the ‘‘loss and damage’’ they’re suffering due to floods, droughts, famine, heat waves and storms worsened by climate change despite emitting a small fraction of heat-trapping carbon pollution.

It is also long been called an issue of climate justice.

The deal ‘‘responded to the voices of the vulnerable, the damaged and the lost of the whole world by establishing a fund for the lost and the damaged,’’ Pakistan environment minister Sherry Rehman, speaking for a coalition of the world’s poorest nations, told fellow delegates. ‘‘We have struggled for 30 years on this path. And today, in Sharm elSheikh, this journey has achieved its first positive milestone. The establishment of a fund is not about dispensing charity. It is clearly a downpayment on the longer investment in our joint futures.’’

Nations hit by floods, droughts, famines and storms celebrated, as did small island states that face an existential threat from rising seas.

‘‘Today, the international community has restored global faith in this critical process that is dedicated to ensuring no-one is left behind,’’ said Antigua and Barbuda’s Molwyn Joseph, who chairs the organisation of small island states. ‘‘The agreements made at COP27 are a win for our entire world. We have shown those who have felt neglected that we hear you, we see you, and we are giving you the respect and care you deserve.’’

‘‘It wasn’t easy at all,’’ said UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell, who hails from Grenada. ‘‘We worked around the clock. But this outcome does move us forward’’ and he said it for the first time addresses ‘‘the impacts on communities whose lives and livelihoods have been ruined by the very worst impacts of climate change’’.

A deal of sorts came after a game of climate change chicken over fossil fuels.

‘‘What we have in front of us is not enough of a step forward for people and planet,’’ a disappointed Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Union, told his fellow negotiators. ‘‘It does not bring enough added efforts from major emitters to increase and accelerate their emissions cuts.

‘‘We have all fallen short in actions to avoid and minimize loss and damage,’’ Timmermans said. ‘‘We should have done much more.’’

The new agreement does not ratchet up calls for reducing emissions.

But it does retain language to keep alive the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5C over preindustrial times.