Timmermans on COP27: Scary work needed to turn communiqué plan into agreement

Terrible job it must be done to turn the COP27 draft communiqué into something that all sides can agree onthe head of the European Union’s Climate Policy told Reuters, Frans Timmermans.

“The text box needs some scary work. We are not in a position to say that there is sufficient common ground to agree on this,” said Frans Timmermans from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

“So we will continue the talks and shine our lights and hopefully we can find common ground before the end of the COP.”

Earlier, the UN’s climate agency released a draft communiqué listing what could be included in what is hoped to be the conference’s final agreement text. It includes many of the goals set out at last year’s conference UN and leaves the controversial issues for discussion.

COP27 ends tomorrow, but some participants expect it to stretch into the weekend.

The countries, as noted by APE-MPE, disagree on loss and damage (losses and damages) or otherwise how to give financial aid to countries facing great economic losses and irreparable damage due to the disasters caused by climate change.

Developing countries vulnerable to climate change are asking for an agreement at the COP27 summit to create a new fund to deal with the losses they are suffering.

Rich countries, including the European Union and the United States, have blocked previous attempts to create such a fund or to discuss compensation for climate change losses, fearing a chain of obligations that would result from admitting that high-emissions their economies fuel climate change.

Frans Timmermans stated that now the European Union wants to discuss the creation of a new fundbut asks to first explore how existing financial tools can be restructured to deal with capital loss and damage.

“The creation of a fund can be the result of this process. But this is not predetermined,” said Frans Timmermans.