Climate damages key flashpoint at UN COP talks

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) — Climate negotiators were grappling for an agreement Saturday at the UN COP27 in Egypt after high-stakes talks went deep into the night with key sticking points over funding for countries wracked by climate disasters and ambition in tackling global warming.

The meeting at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh has been dominated by the controversial issue of climate “loss and damage” funds to help developing nations cope with the impacts of increasingly intense and costly floods, heatwaves and droughts.

Wealthy nations, long reluctant to discuss the issue over fears of liability, have accepted that vulnerable nations are facing devastating impacts.

But there are disagreements over who pays and which countries are considered particularly affected.

With nations struggling to find common ground, Britain and several other countries circulated new suggestions trying to break the deadlock late Friday.

The issue was among a daunting list of outstanding areas of contention at the COP27 talks, where representatives from nearly 200 countries have gathered with the aim of driving forward action on climate change as the world faces a worsening onslaught of weather extremes.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who chairs the COP27 talks, told delegates on Friday — the day talks were officially due to end — that the negotiations would go into Saturday.

“I remain concerned at the number of outstanding issues,” he said.

Delegates are looking to find agreement on emissions-cutting ambitions and reaffirm a goal to limit average warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, which scientists say is a safer guardrail to avoid the most dangerous impacts.