COP27 delivers climate fund breakthrough at cost of progress on emissions - Reuters

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Countries closed this year's U.N. clime acme connected Sunday with a hard-fought woody to make a money to assistance mediocre countries being battered by clime disasters, adjacent arsenic galore lamented its deficiency of ambition successful tackling the emissions causing them.

The woody was wide lauded arsenic a triumph for responding to the devastating interaction that planetary warming is already having connected susceptible countries. But galore countries said they felt pressured to springiness up connected tougher commitments for limiting planetary warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius successful bid for the landmark woody connected the nonaccomplishment and harm money to spell through.

Delegates - worn retired aft intense, overnight negotiations - made nary objections arsenic Egypt’s COP27 President Sameh Shoukry rattled done the last docket items and gavelled the woody through.

Despite having nary statement for a stronger committedness to the 1.5 C extremity acceptable successful the 2015 Paris Agreement, "we went with what the statement was present due to the fact that we privation to basal with the astir vulnerable," Germany's clime caput Jennifer Morgan, visibly shaken, told Reuters.

When asked by Reuters whether the extremity of stronger climate-fighting ambition had been compromised for the deal, Mexico's main clime negotiator Camila Zepeda summed up the temper among exhausted negotiators.

"Probably. You instrumentality a triumph erstwhile you can."

LOSS AND DAMAGE

The woody for a nonaccomplishment and harm money marked a diplomatic coup for tiny islands and different susceptible nations successful winning implicit the 27-nation European Union and the United States, which had agelong resisted the thought for fearfulness that specified a money could unfastened them to ineligible liability for historical emissions.

Those concerns were assuaged with connection successful the statement calling for the funds to travel from a assortment of existing sources, including fiscal institutions, alternatively than relying connected affluent nations to wage in.

The clime envoy from the Marshall Islands said she was "worn out" but blessed with the fund's approval. "So galore radical each this week told america we wouldn't get it," Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner said. "So gladsome they were wrong."

But it apt volition beryllium respective years earlier the money exists, with the statement mounting retired lone a roadmap for resolving lingering questions including who would oversee the fun, however the wealth would beryllium dispersed – and to whom.

U.S. peculiar clime envoy John Kerry, who was not astatine the play negotiations successful idiosyncratic aft investigating affirmative for COVID-19, connected Sunday welcomed the woody to "establish arrangements to respond to the devastating interaction of clime alteration connected susceptible communities astir the world."

In a statement, helium said helium would proceed to property large emitters similar China to "significantly heighten their ambition" successful keeping the 1.5 C extremity alive.

FOSSIL FUEL FIZZLE

The terms paid for a woody connected the nonaccomplishment and harm money was astir evident successful the connection astir emanation reductions and reducing the usage of polluting fossil fuels – known successful the parlance of U.N. clime negotiations arsenic "mitigation."

Last year's COP26 acme successful Glasgow, Scotland, had focused connected a taxable of keeping the 1.5C extremity live – arsenic scientists pass that warming beyond that threshold would spot clime alteration spiral to extremes.

Countries were asked past to update their nationalist clime targets earlier this year’s Egypt summit. Only a fraction of the astir 200 parties did so.

While praising the nonaccomplishment and harm deal, galore countries decried COP27’s nonaccomplishment to propulsion mitigation further and said immoderate countries were trying to rotation backmost commitments made successful the Glasgow Climate Pact.

"We had to combat relentlessly to clasp the enactment of Glasgow," a visibly frustrated Alok Sharma, designer of the Glasgow deal, told the summit.

He listed disconnected a fig of ambition-boosting measures that were stymied successful the negotiations for the last COP27 woody successful Egypt: "Emissions peaking earlier 2025 arsenic the subject tells america is necessary? Not successful this text. Clear follow-through connected the signifier down of coal? Not successful this text. A wide committedness to signifier retired each fossil fuels? Not successful this text."

On fossil fuels, the COP27 woody substance mostly repeats wording from Glasgow, calling up parties to accelerate "efforts towards the phasedown of unabated ember powerfulness and phase-out of inefficient fossil substance subsidies."

Efforts to see a committedness to signifier out, oregon astatine slightest signifier down, each fossil fuels were thwarted.

A abstracted "mitigation enactment programme" agreement, besides approved connected Sunday, contained respective clauses that immoderate parties, including the European Union, felt weakened committedness to ever much ambitious emissions-cutting targets.

Critics pointed to a conception which they said undermined the Glasgow committedness to regularly renew emissions targets – with connection saying the enactment programme would "not enforce caller targets oregon goals". Another conception of the COP27 woody dropped the thought of yearly people renewal successful favour of returning to a longer five-year rhythm acceptable retired successful the Paris pact.

"It is much than frustrating to spot overdue steps connected mitigation and the phase-out of fossil energies being stonewalled by a fig of ample emitters and lipid producers," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

The woody besides included a notation to "low-emissions energy," raising interest among immoderate that it opened the doorway to the increasing usage of earthy state - a fossil substance that leads to some c dioxide and methane emissions.

"It does not interruption with Glasgow completely, but it doesn't rise ambition astatine all," Norway's Climate Minister Espen Barth Eide told reporters.

The clime curate of the Maldives, which faces aboriginal inundation from climate-driven oversea level rise, lamented the deficiency of ambition connected curbing emissions.

"I recognise the advancement we made successful COP27" with the nonaccomplishment and harm fund, Aminath Shauna told the plenary. But "we person failed connected mitigation ... We person to guarantee that we summation ambition to highest emissions by 2025. We person to signifier retired fossil fuel."

Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, Dominic Evans and William James; Writing by Katy Daigle

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