US President Joe Biden remains “determined” to combat climate change regardless of the US election results
promised its emissary this Tuesday at COP27, where the countries of the South are demanding funding that could become astronomical.
“The climate crisis does not just threaten our infrastructure, our economies or our security, it threatens every aspect of our daily lives.“, warned the American envoy for the climate John Kerry, on the third day of the UN climate conference
in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. “President Biden is more determined than ever to continue what we are doing.”regardless of the outcome of the vote, and acknowledges the “special responsibility” of his country towards developing nations, he said.
Joe Biden did not come to Egypt at the same time as the other leaders, awaiting the outcome of crucial midterm elections on Tuesday for his political future. However, he will come to COP27 on Friday. Also in the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, his climate envoy Xie Zhenhua also reaffirmed “China’s determination to actively participate in global climate governance”while the renewed tension between Beijing and Washington raises fears for the dynamics of the fight against global warming.
“Polluter pays”
A key point of the two weeks of negotiations, the question of losses and damages suffered by the countries of the South was officially put on the agenda. “It’s just one step“, warned this Tuesday at the podium the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis), threatened by rising waters. “We must unequivocally establish a fund for loss and damage at this COP“and it will not be “only a modest token as our members lose up to 2% of their GDP in one day due to a single weather event”he judged.
“We must respect the polluter-pays principle, in solidarity”, President of Senegal and the African Union Macky Sall told AFP. These discussions are taking place against an increasingly urgent backdrop of disasters, with historic floods in Pakistan this year, famine-threatening drought in the Horn of Africa and record heat in Europe this summer.
The UN secretary-general on Monday urged leaders to “cooperate or perish”. “It’s either a climate solidarity pact or a collective suicide pact”, thundered Antonio Guterres. This solidarity must be translated into financial commitments, in particular for poor countries, a financial issue fiercely discussed at COP27. Southern countries will have need more than 2,000 billion dollars per year by 2030 to finance their climate action, nearly half of which will come from outside investors, according to a report commissioned by the COP presidency published on Tuesday.