São Paulo – The United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference, COP27, that took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, closed with a deal on loss and damage, according to a statement made public by the UN. Negotiations stretched into early Sunday (20) morning, after missing their Friday (18) night deadline.
An agreement was reached on establishing a funding mechanism to compensate vulnerable nations for loss and damage from climate-induced disasters to be operationalized in the coming period.
UN secretary-general António Guterrez was quoted as saying that this “COP has taken an important step towards justice.” Developing countries made strong appeals for the establishment of a loss and damage fund, to compensate the countries that are the most vulnerable to climate disasters, yet who have contributed little to the climate crisis.
“Clearly this will not be enough, but it is a much-needed political signal to rebuild broken trust,” Guterres underscored, stressing that the UN system will support the effort every step of the way.
According to the UN, however, there appeared to be little forward movement on other key issues, particularly on the phasing out of fossil fuels, and tightened language on the need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Guterres was quoted as saying that it’s necessary to drastically reduce emissions now – and this is an issue this COP did not address.
The UN chief said that while a fund for loss and damage is essential, it’s not an answer if the climate crisis washes a small island state off the map – or turns an entire African country into a desert. He renewed his call for just energy transition partnerships to accelerate the phasing out of coal and scaling up renewables.
Here’s more on COP27.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
