Cop’s deal for climate cash

A HISTORIC pact to pay poor countries hit by catastrophes caused by climate change was agreed yesterday by nearly 200 nations.

The deal to create a loss and damage fund was a key demand of small island nations facing rising seas that threaten to wipe them off the map, and states whose fields will become deserts as the Earth heats up.

The agreement came with no mention of liability for which countries should make the payments, nor how much.

French president Emmanuel Macron described the loss and damage fund as ‘an empty bucket’.

But Rachel Kennerley of Friends of the Earth said: ‘ Countries like the UK must now provide the necessary cash, and ensure the scheme isn’t undermined by nations trying to avoid their obligations.’ The summit at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El- Sheikh was meant to have ended on Friday but over-ran by 36 hours.

UN chief Antonio Guterres hailed the pact struck by the Cop – the Conference of the Parties.

‘Cop27 took place not far from Mount Sinai, a site that is central to many faiths and to the story of Moses, or Musa,’ he said.

‘It’s fitting. Climate chaos is a crisis of biblical proportions.

Instead of a burning bush, we face a burning planet. We need to drastically reduce emissions now – and this is an issue this Cop did not address.’

Alok Sharma, head of the UK’s delegation, said the creation of a loss and damage fund was ‘ historic’ but there was too little action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and on ending the use of coal power.