Climate fund breakthrough offers ‘hope’

THE COP27 host Egypt scrambled to salvage UN climate talks on Saturday with the EU and Pakistan signalling a breakthrough over the contentious issue of “loss and damage” funding for climate vulnerable nations.

Nearly 200 countries’ representatives gathered in Egypt for two weeks with the aim of driving forward action to fight climate change as the world faces a worsening onslaught of weather extremes. But the talks stalled over the terms under which wealthy polluters provide “loss and damage” funding for countries wracked by climate disasters, as well as over ratcheting up ambition in tackling global warming.

After the EU rejected a document shown by Egypt because of concerns it was weak on curbing emissions, a source from the bloc said at least the loss and damage issue was “agreed” as far as it was concerned.

A European source confirmed “a deal has been reached on loss and damage which targets the fund to vulnerable countries”.

The agreement was still subject to confirmation at a closing meeting.

Pakistan’s Climate Minister Sherry Rehman said she was “hopeful of a positive outcome”. “If that happens today, that will be a historic reminder to vulnerable people all over the world that they have a voice and that if they unite... we can actually start breaking down barriers that we thought were impossible,” she said.

Pakistan – struck by devastating heatwaves and floods this year – chairs the G77 and China bloc of 134 developing nations, which has campaigned strongly for a fund for loss and damage to be agreed at COP27.

But with countries continuing to raise concerns over ambitions on cutting emissions and tackling global warming, the outcome of the climate talks remained uncertain.

An informal coalition of “high ambition” countries has called for strong language on cutting emissions, moving away from planet-heating fossil fuels and to reaffirm the aspirational goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C from pre-industrial levels.

Scientists say this is a far safer guardrail against catastrophic climate impacts, with the world far off track and heading for around 2.5°C of warming under current commitments and plans. A draft decision document on creating a specific loss and damage fund was published by the Egyptian presidency on Saturday.

The EU has called for the fund to prioritise the most climate-vulnerable countries as recipients. It also said the money should come from a “broad funder base” – code for countries including China and Saudi Arabia that have become wealthier.

China’s envoy Xie Zhenhua told reporters that the fund should be for all developing countries. “I hope that it could be provided to the fragile countries first.”