COP27 ends with a global climate breakthrough

The annual U.N. Climate Change Conference ended in Egypt with a groundbreaking but highly contentious decision: A fund would be created to help poor nations hit hard by climate disasters. The meeting was supposed to end Friday night but missed the deadline and went into intense overtime until early Sunday, when delegates finally agreed on a package of decisions. Meanwhile, delegates from the more than 190 attending sidestepped two other contentious issues by not moving forward with language on the need to phase out all fossil fuels and to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). What was decided at COP27 this year, what wasn’t and what mattered? Here’s what to know.

What is COP27?

COP27 is the annual United Nations meeting of the 197 countries that have agreed to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, originally adopted in 1992. The meeting is the decision-making body of the countries that signed onto the framework. It is held to assess how well nations are dealing with climate change.

What is the ‘Loss and Damage’ fund?

In 1991, the tiny island nation of Vanuatu suggested countries that had done the most to cause climate change over the past 250 years should pay to help countries that are most affected by it.

Finally, this year the member nations of COP agreed to create a “Loss and Damage” fund to compensate vulnerable nations as they deal with rising sea levels, massive storms and droughts. The details are still being worked out.

Two sticking points came from the United States and China:

Some wealthy nations, including the U.S., had long fought such a fund, worried they could face unlimited liability as the biggest historical emitters of greenhouse gases. In the end, the agreement says nations cannot be held legally liable for previous emissions, assuaging some of those fears.

China, Brazil, India and South Africa argued developed nations were subjecting them to a double standard – they got rich burning unlimited fossil fuel but now want developing nations to hold back. Others said that as the world’s biggest current emitter of greenhouse gases, China shouldn’t be eligible for compensation from the fund even though the United Nations still considers it a developing country.