COP27 delegates struggle to reach deal as deadline looms
SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Countries were struggling to reach agreement at the COP27 climate talks in Egypt on Saturday, with some threatening to walk away if negotiators failed to make progress on fighting climate change.
With the talks already in overtime, officials from the 27-country European Union said they were worried about a lack of progress overnight and even the possibility of backsliding from parts of the COP26 climate deal agreed in Glasgow, Scotland, last year.
“All (EU) ministers ... are prepared to walk away if we do not have a result that does justice to what the world is waiting for — namely that we do something about this climate crisis,” EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans told reporters on the sidelines of the summit.
“We’d rather have no decision than a bad decision.”
The outcome of the conference, which was meant to end on Friday, aims to strengthen global resolve to fight climate change, even as a war in Europe and rampant consumer inflation distract international attention.
But after two weeks of talks
in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-sheikh, none of the key issues in discussion this year had been resolved.
The Egyptian COP27 president urged parties to “rise to the occasion” and unite around a final deal, while defending the version so-far drafted.
“The text does keep the 1.5 alive,” said Sameh Shoukry, who is Egypt’s foreign minister.
Negotiators said they had not seen a fresh draft of an overall deal since Friday morning, although they had reviewed separate draft compromises for deals on the stickiest issues.
That draft had reaffirmed past commitments to limit warming to 1.5C, but did not meet demands by some, including the European Union and Britain, to lock in country commitments for more ambitious efforts to curb climatewarming emissions.