At the United Nations climate conference in Egypt, where diplomats were frantically attempting to break an impasse over the loss and damage of money for impoverished countries devastated by natural catastrophes, US climate envoy John Kerry tested positive for COVID-19.
The negotiations, which were supposed to terminate on Friday but have been going on with no apparent conclusion, have grown tenser as a result of Kerry’s illness.
The contentious topic of “loss and damage” funding for under-developed nations to deal with the consequences of climate change has arisen during discussions at the COP27 meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
“He is fully vaccinated and boosted and experiencing mild symptoms. He is working with his negotiations team and foreign counterparts by phone to ensure a successful outcome of COP27,” Kerry’s spokeswoman Whitney Smith said in a statement late on Friday.
The fundamental point of contention between wealthy and developing countries continues to be loss and damage, specifically how to pay nations who have already been devastated by mega-storm wildfires, floods, and plagues brought on by the climate.
By Friday night, press conferences and plenaries had been rescheduled or cancelled, putting an end to negotiations, at least those that were visible. As they modified their airline reservations for Saturday’s lengthy overtime negotiations, diplomats expressed their hope for a late-night breakthrough.
International Climate Director at the World Resources Institute David Waskow remarked, “I think we’re in for a bit of a long haul.”
“Loss and damage sits at the centre in terms of what needs to be done to get this over the finish line,” he added.
At the COP27, which has been taking place in Egypt for two weeks, representatives from nearly 200 nations have come with the goal of advancing climate change action as the globe faces an increasing number of extreme weather events.
The conference’s key concern is loss and harm for many vulnerable nations, and some people believe the development of a particular fund is essential to the conference’s success.
Richer nations, who in the past feared unending liability and shied away from the topic of compensation, now acknowledge the necessity for financial assistance for developing nations facing increasingly severe climate-related disasters. However, they demanded that beneficiaries prioritise the most climate-vulnerable nations and a wider range of donors.
The industrialised world is also eager to shift attention to other pressing concerns, such as reaching a consensus on ambitious emission-reduction plans and restating the target of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, which scientists say is a safer guardrail for avoiding the most dangerous climate effects.
The devastating effects of global warming on emerging economies and small island states endangered by increasing sea levels have come into sharp focus in recent months due to a cascade of climate-driven extremes, including heatwaves, droughts, and floods in Pakistan and Nigeria.
This week, a coalition of 134 poor nations led by the Group of 77 and China proposed to establish a fund at COP27, with operational specifics to be decided later.
Sherry Rehman, the climate minister for Pakistan, and the G77+China chair said on Friday that her delegation was prepared “to establish common ground” on the issue of the planned fund.
A solution from the European Union was put up late Thursday and offered a fund expressly for the most affected countries, saying the money should come from a “wide donor base”—a term for nations like China and Saudi Arabia that had developed economically since they were labelled as developing countries in 1992.
Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans told reporters on Friday morning, “I have to say this is our final offer.”
By the end of the century, scientists predict that the world will have warmed by around 2.5C, despite additional promises, which will be enough to cause a severe climate critical threshold.
