Google News CoP27 reaches agreement on relief for the damage caused by climate change
by | VIEW 325
At the CoP27 in Sharm el Sheikh, the richest countries in the north of the planet, led by the US and the EU, and the emerging and developing countries led by China, agreed to set up a fund to restore the losses and damage caused by global warming in the poorest and most vulnerable countries.
The vice president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, had announced that the EU was ready to leave the negotiations if an acceptable agreement was not reached. The Union a few days ago said yes reluctantly to the loss and damage fund, clamored by the G77 + China countries, led by Beijing.
A commission of experts will therefore be appointed in Sharm, which will take the fund's project to the next Cop28 in Dubai next year. The day in Sharm had started very badly. China and the G77 said yes to indicate in the final document that the recipients of aid will be the most vulnerable countries, and that the number of donors will be expanded.
In the evening, the safeguarding of the target of 1.5 degrees of maximum warming set in Glasgow remained to be defined. But the deal was now within reach.
Cop27 reaches agreement on relief for the damage caused by climate change
EU feared that it would be too burdensome and take too long, and preferred to update existing instruments.
But faced with the compact position of the G77 and China, the EU ended up giving in. The goal is to keep global warming within 1.5 degrees from pre-industrial levels, an unwelcome constraint on China, which wants to commit itself to decarbonization, but does not want to make too many external commitments.
On the night between Friday and Saturday, the Egyptian presidency presented a draft on loss and damage, which did not take into account the European proposal. The Union at that point decided to impeach itself. The fund was to be earmarked only for the most vulnerable countries, and not for all developing countries, among which there are still superpowers like China and India.
And it had to be financed by the wider donor base, therefore also by China, which instead wanted to shift the burden only on the West. Furthermore, in exchange for its yes to the fund, the EU asked COP27 to confirm all the ambitious commitments to mitigate climate change.
