COP27: Talks begin on first draft of climate agreement

Government ministers and negotiators from nearly 200 countries began the difficult task today of finding common ground for one agreement in annuals UN climate talks on the basis of a first outline which is in the hands of the delegates to the session in Egypt.

The document, which was released late yesterday, Monday, by the Egyptian presidency COP27 consists of two pages of bullet points summarizing many of the topics that countries have requested to be included – incl points of contention that cause deep divisions between states.

The document is titled “non-paper”, making it clear that it is not a formal draft of what could actually be agreed by the countries at the close of the conference, scheduled to take place on Friday, as the central political agreement after two weeks of work.

“Everything will come together in the last few days,” EU environment policy chief Virginians Sinkevicius told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference.

“It seems that we are rather far from what we would like to have as a resultbut I’m sure as more and more energy goes into it, it will come down to the last few days and maybe the last few minutes,” he said.

Belize negotiator Carlos Fuller said, according to APE-MPE, that the countries will discuss the document this afternoon and could even add more to the “long list” of issues that have been outlined so far.

A section of the document on loss and damage – which refers to financing developing countries dealing with the unavoidable damage caused by climate change– hinting that the deal will highlight the “need for funding arrangements” to address this.

He gave no indication, however, of whether the final deal would include a new loss and damage fund – which developing countries are calling for in the negotiations but which the European Union and the United States are wary of.

The failure of rich countries to fully meet an earlier pledge to provide $100 billion in annual climate finance to developing countries has cast a heavy shadow over climate talks in recent years. Last year, rich countries paid about $83 billion to that end, but said they would only fully fulfill their pledge in 2023.

“We cannot afford one more erosion of trust between developed and developing countries» said the Prime Minister of Samoa Fiame Naomi Mata’afa.

“Let’s make COP27 the turning point in our efforts to make rhetorical history and mirages a reality,” Mata’afa said.

The burning of fossil fuels is the main cause of climate change, but coal, gas and oil are absent from the draft agreement.

THE India surprised some countries last week by pushing for a deal at the conference to phase out all fossil fuels — instead of just coal, as countries agreed to at a U.N. summit last year. The COP27 draft text gives no indication of what course the final agreement will take on this issue.

The document does state the urgent need for action in order for it to remain the goal is achievable which has been agreed upon worldwideto prevent the Earth’s temperature from rising beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era, in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

“We cannot lose 1.5 degrees at this COP,” said Alok Sharma, president of the last UN climate conference, COP26, held in Glasgow, Scotland. Sharma made these remarks today at an event on the sidelines of the conference in Egypt.

Tom Evans, a policy analyst at the non-profit think tank E3G, said the draft was “a wish list of issues” but did not reveal what was likely to be included in the final agreement.

“Many of the issues alluded to in this document are under lively discussion at the Group of 20 (G20) summit,” he said, adding that what G20 leaders will decide during their meeting today and tomorrow in Bali on issues involving the phase-out of fossil fuels could direct the final outcome of COP27.