Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt: With just days left for the ongoing COP27 climate summit in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh to conclude, negotiations over some of the most crucial issues impacting global climate action are in a deadlock, as talks on climate finance, mitigation, and loss and damage funds, have reached world leaders for consensus.
As the deadline to conclude negotiations drew near, the COP27 Presidency led by Sameh Shoukry said late Tuesday that though progress had been made, certain issues required “higher-level political engagement”. The climate summit, which started on 6 November, is scheduled to end Friday, but may stretch for longer if the issues aren’t resolved in time, said observers.
India and Australia will lead ministerial consultations on matters related to climate finance — an issue seen as central to the success of COP27, given finance is the means for developing countries to achieve their climate goals.
But observers and negotiators confirmed to ThePrint that rich country groups now want developing countries to contribute to climate finance funds and pay for losses and damages arising from climate change, even as they’ve failed to deliver on their own promises.
“It is not necessarily good news for developing countries that these issues have reached ministerial consultations, because they are usually used to intimidate us (developing countries) into not participating,” said a negotiator with the G77 group of developing countries, adding, “For loss and damage, it’s very clear what we want, what we’re proposing, and how we want to achieve it”.
The Presidency had expressed hope that the outstanding issues would be resolved by 16 November.
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US, Switzerland push to exclude equity in climate action
The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change makes it binding for countries to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, while “pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C, recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change”.
According to the latest scientific data, the world is already at 1.1 degrees above pre-industrial levels, and is slated to cross at least 2.3 degrees of warming if drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are not made.
During a review meeting on the implementation of the Paris Agreement temperature goal, called the Second Periodic Review, the U.S. had pushed to “redefine” the goal to limit temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees of warming, while seeking to exclude the concept of equity and historical emissions, according to a negotiator who was then in the room.
A few days ago, U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry told the press at COP27 that “some countries” did not want to cooperate to limit the temperature goal to 1.5 degrees.
Developing countries argue, however, that shifting goalposts can double the pressure on low and middle-income countries to cut emissions, without adequate means to do so. Developed countries had nearly 15 years ago pledged to deliver $100 billion in climate finance by 2020, and still haven’t done so.
“We cannot have some kind of situation, where there are only 0.4 degrees left and you distribute the burden of mitigating emissions equally and forget emissions from the past. We need to consider historical emissions, because we are feeling the effects of historical emissions today,” said the negotiator referred to above, who is from a middle-income country, adding, “There is also no mandate to change the goal from well below 2 degrees to 1.5 degrees”.
Attribution scientists have said this year’s heatwaves in India and floods in Pakistan are some of the events made much more likely by the effects of climate change. The U.S. is the largest historical emitter, accounting for nearly a quarter of all emissions since pre-industrial times. The E.U. is the second-largest historical emitter, with 22 per cent of emissions.
ThePrint reached U.S. climate communications office for comment on email, but was told, “Unfortunately, Secretary Kerry and the team are very busy with ongoing negotiations and other commitments, so they would not be available for this request”.
Meena Raman, head of programmes at the Third World Network, an UN-approved observer of the negotiations, confirmed to ThePrint that Switzerland also opposed the concepts of equity and historical emissions during discussions on climate mitigation. Switzerland leads the Environmental Integrity Group (EIG), which comprises five other countries — Mexico, Liechtenstein, Monaco, South Korea, and Georgia.
ThePrint reached the Switzerland Federal Department of Foreign Affairs on email for comment, but received no response till the time of publication of this report.
“During the Mitigation Work Programme, the EIG sought to delete any mention of equity in the context of scaling up mitigation. When developed countries insist on limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees without acknowledging equity, historical emissions, and the common but differentiated responsibility of tackling climate change, it indicates that developing countries will have to pick up the slack,” Raman said.
During a press conference Wednesday, COP27 ambassador Wael Aboulmagd said the presidency was trying to find a common ground between groups of countries on the issue.
“The entire Paris Agreement should be guided by equity and common but differentiated responsibilities. This is a conversation that takes place every year. We are patrons at this time and we are trying to find a common ground. We will have to find the right language to accommodate differentiation,” he told reporters Wednesday.
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Footing the climate change bill
The contentious issues of finance — particularly the contours of a new finance goal that will kick in 2025 onwards, as well as finance meant for loss and damage, have also landed in a deadlock.
On Wednesday, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), a group of 39 countries, put out a statement saying the “inaction of developed countries has the potential to stall talks and land a devastating blow to the hopes of the developing world for a loss and damage funding facility”.
Developing country groups have demanded that a finance facility that can provide immediate assistance be set up for developing countries that can no longer adapt to the effects of climate change. The U.S. has blocked the proposal, according to a press release by the Climate Action Network, a global network of more than 1,800 civil society organisations.
Frans Timmermans, executive vice president for the European Green Deal, European Commission, told reporters Wednesay that the EU was prepared to pay for losses and damages, but said, “I think everybody should be brought into the system on the basis of where they are today. So if you freeze the time, some countries that today have huge financial potential and grown enormously could be off the hook in contributing to supporting the most vulnerable in the world.”
According to the EU, large economies like China — “one of the biggest economies on the planet” — should contribute to climate finance funds, including for loss and damage. Developing country negotiators have pointed out that this undermines the Paris Agreement and its convention, which lists China as a developing country.
But the interest in expanding the donor base for climate finance outside the framework of the convention is growing in popularity, two COP27 negotiators told ThePrint. Expanding the donor base to include developing countries, who are facing the brunt of climate change, puts less pressure on richer countries to be more ambitious with their own commitments, they added.
“The U.S. has proposed ‘high-income countries except small island states’ contribute to climate finance. This could include developing countries,” said the negotiator from the G77 group, adding, “We have pushed back saying the convention doesn’t include this kind of language.”
The issue of loss and damage funding has also entered ministerial consultations, the Presidency announced.
“There are very divergent views on the issues. We are guiding the ministers overseeing this. We have said we want something meaningful on this. We owe it to the countries at the frontlines of the climate crisis. That is only worth anything if the protagonists listen and show leadership to deliver to expectations of people whose lives and livelihoods are impacted,” Aboulmagd said.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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