“There is still a lot of work” to overcome the divisions between rich countries responsible for global warming and poor countries which are demanding help to deal with it, the president of COP27 warned on Monday at the start of the second week of negotiations at the conference. of ONU.
“We have finished on some issues, but there is still a lot of work to do if we are to achieve meaningful and tangible results that we can be proud of. Now we have to change gears,” urged Sameh Choukri, President of COP27, during a brief update at the start of the home stretch of the World Climate Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. scheduled until Friday.
The head of Egyptian diplomacy listed the contentious points, i.e. all the important chapters: mitigation (reduction of emissions), adaptation to the foreseeable effects of climate change and finances, in particular for the “losses and damages” already inevitable. , which often strike the poorest countries, those least responsible for global warming.
“Building the Bridges”
Simon Stiell, head of the UN Climate agency, echoed this list in a tweet: “people and the planet expect this process to deliver on its promises”. And to call for “building the bridges necessary to progress on (limiting global warming to) 1.5°C, adaptation, financing and loss and damage”.
A year ago, at the previous COP in Glasgow, some 200 countries pledged to “keep alive” the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement. That is to say, limit global warming to +1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era, by increasing their greenhouse gas reduction commitments for COP27.
But fewer than 30 have done so, putting the planet on course for a warming of +2.4°C at best. And the first week of COP27 didn’t see many announcements, with the exception of Mexico.
According to several observers, China and Saudi Arabia have even made known their reluctance, already expressed in the past, to see in the final declaration the reference to the 1.5°C objective, insisting on the main objective of the Paris agreement of “significantly below” 2°C.
“Most countries here have no intention of going back,” insisted the US special envoy for the climate, John Kerry, but decisions are made by consensus and a single country can block the machine. .
All eyes are on Monday on the outcome of the meeting between Chinese Presidents Xi Jinping and American President Joe Biden ahead of the G20 summit in Indonesia.
“Push harder”
Relations between the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases are indeed very tense, which raises fears of repercussions on climate negotiations.
Mr. Choukri asked the delegations to complete the technical work on Tuesday, in order to then be able to hand over to the ministers expected in Sharm el-Sheikh.
In the final declaration, we need “a number of things that tell people ‘we have heard you, there is an emergency, it’s everyone on deck and we’re going to use all the levers to decarbonize the planet’ “Summarizes Alden Meyer, analyst at the E3G think tank.
From Pakistan drowned in floods a few months ago to the small islands of the Pacific threatened by the rising ocean, developing countries are demanding more money from rich countries that have failed to keep their promise to bring to 100 billion dollars a year their aid intended for the reduction of emissions and the adaptation to the impacts.
They also now claim the establishment of a specific mechanism to deal with the “losses and damage” already suffered.
Europe and the United States are particularly reluctant to do so, and President Biden carefully avoided the term during his brief visit to the COP on Friday, pleading instead to mobilize the private sector.
Create a dedicated mechanism, “is this the right solution?” We think that is not the case,” a European source told AFP, preferring the use of existing organizations such as the Green Climate Fund.
The German presidency of the G7 and around sixty vulnerable countries launched Monday at COP27 a “shield”, a new structure to help, in particular via insurance, populations to finance the impacts of global warming, an initiative welcomed with caution by NGOs.
“We are not giving up the fight, we have to push and push harder,” said Henry Kokofu, negotiator from Ghana, speaking on behalf of the Climate Vulnerable Forum which brings together nearly 60 countries.
“The biggest problem is the lack of political will, the reluctance to see the climate emergency,” commented Maldives Environment Minister Aminath Shauna, refusing any “compromise”.