COP27: When nearly every group questioned decisions, pushing talks over the edge

The mistrust and divisions among the rich and developing countries became intense at UN Climate Conference (COP27) in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh

UN Climate Conference (COP27) in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh went into overtime on Saturday night with several parties and country groups wanting to reopen some aspect of the text that had been informally agreed upon earlier in the day, said people familiar with the matter.

Politics around energy, accountability and mitigation efforts to keep global warming under 1.5 degree C took the centre stage at COP27 (AP)

Climate crisis seemed to take a back seat as politics around energy, accountability and mitigation efforts to keep global warming under 1.5 degree C took the centre stage. The battle lines among the global South and global North were clearly drawn and COP27, it seemed, was headed for a collapse.

The draft texts on various agenda items of COP27, including the draft cover decision and on Loss and Damage funding, came at 1pm on Friday afternoon. But, negotiators coming out of the consultation room said certain parties like Switzerland wanted changes in the Loss and Damage fund text, hours after activists and vulnerable countries had declared that there was a unanimous agreement on the Loss and Damage funding facility.

“This problem predates the convention. The rich countries only want to escape historical responsibility and pass on the burden to others. Switzerland’s main contention is it wants stronger language on 1.5 degree C goal in the Loss and Damage facility text, which means it wants higher mitigation goals for everyone including the developing countries. The issue has gone back to the question of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities. They want us to clean up the mess that led to 1.1 degree C warming,” said a developing country negotiator.

All developed countries pushed for a stronger language on “phasing out” of fossil fuels against phasing down, said negotiators.

Saudi Arabia pushed for mention of carbon capture in the text and said energy sources (fossil fuels) should not be mentioned, but only emissions can be mentioned. US also sought a stronger language on “phase out” of fossil, fuels according to negotiators.

Earlier in the day, European Union representatives said they were ready to walk away from the talks if the deal did not advance efforts to curb global warming by requiring that countries take more ambitious action in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

On Friday, around midnight, the US, EU, Australia, New Zealand had shared a draft proposal on matters related to the Loss and Damage Fund. The draft stated that the funding arrangements would attract contributions from a wide variety of parties and sources, including public and private. It also noted that keeping the global temperature rise to below 1.5 degree C will be essential to limiting future Loss and Damage.

And, the funding arrangements will be assisting only developing countries that are “particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in responding to Loss and Damage.” “This draft was leaked to some media and it was done in bad faith. There was no discussion on the proposal. We do not even consider it a proposal,” said a developing country negotiator who was at the negotiations overnight on Friday.

But issues around Loss and Damage had resolved by Saturday afternoon with parties finding a compromise around contentious issues. “The draft decision on loss and damage finance offers hope to the vulnerable people that they will get help to recover from climate disasters and rebuild their lives,” Harjeet Singh, Head of Global Political Strategy, Climate Action Network International, had said earlier in the day.

“The USA, UK, EU & Switzerland are taking #COP27 to point of collapse by now backing out of #LossAndDamageFund - they want to extract even heavier price from developing countries - not sure what else they want. They aren’t cutting emissions, or providing finance,” tweeted Asad Rehman, director of War on Want.

The closing plenary of COP27, which was scheduled to be at 6pm (though not announced formally), was delayed to 9pm and then to after midnight while consultations continued.

Since week 2 of COP27 began, the mistrust and divisions among the rich and developing countries became intense. Main issues negotiators said revolved around rich nations pushing to open donor base for climate finance, which would mean possibly including countries like China and India as donors for Loss and Damage, adaptation etc. “This effort basically obscures historical responsibility and bring developed and emerging economies at the same level. This game is not good,” said an observer from India.

The High Ambition Coalition, an informal group of approximately 61 countries like Canada, Norway, UK etc made a statement on Saturday evening demanding strengthening of the text from the mitigation point of view.

“We cannot backslide on the Glasgow Climate Pact. If this is to truly be an implementation COP we must start the work on phasing out fossil fuels, and implementing bold transformation toward net zero,” said Alok Sharma, COP26 president, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in a statement.