For the first time, the nations of the world decided to help pay for the damage caused by the extreme heat that is destroying the poor countries, but they ended the marathon climate negotiations without addressing the cause of the disasters – the burning of fossil fuels.
At the beginning of Sunday, the delegates approved the compensation fund but failed to overcome the conflicts of the overall goal of warming, reducing emissions, and the desire to fight all fossil fuels to reduce them.
In a few hours in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh of Egypt, the European Union and other countries have fought what they see as a step back from the great cooperation of the Egyptian leadership and threaten to disrupt the entire project.
The package was revised, removing many of the items that the Europeans had rejected but not adding anything that they had hoped for.
“What we have in front of us is not enough for people and the planet,” a frustrated Frans Timmermans, the EU’s vice-president, told fellow negotiators. “It doesn’t take enough effort from email senders to increase and decrease their output.
“We have all failed to take steps to prevent and minimize damage and destruction,” Timmermans said. “We could have done more.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also expressed disappointment.
“It is very disappointing to see the reductions and the removal of old fossil fuels being stonewalled by many oil producers and oil producers,” he said.
France said it regretted the “lack of ambition” in the deal.
“No progress” has been made in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and abandon fossil fuels, Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said in a statement, complaining of “real disappointment” but accepting the fund for “waste and destruction” of countries that are in danger. global warming.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, said: “Our country is still in the emergency room. We need to significantly reduce emissions now – and this is an issue that the COP has not addressed.”
Low oil prices?
Sunday’s agreement also includes hiding the benefits of natural gas as a renewable energy source, despite many countries calling for less natural gas, which contributes to climate change.
Although the new agreement does not meet the demands of reducing emissions, it retains the language that the global goal of reducing the temperature of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). The Egyptian leadership continued to present proposals that returned to the Paris language of 2015, which also mentioned the 2C (3.6F) goal.
The Earth has already warmed 1.1C (2F) since prehistoric times.
The agreement does not extend last year’s call to reduce the use of “fixed coal” globally even though India and other countries were forced to include oil and natural gas in the Glasgow language. That was also the subject of the final argument, much to the dismay of the Europeans.
The president of the climate talks last year criticized the conference’s leadership for dropping its efforts to do more to reduce emissions and writing a list of what has not been done.
“We contacted many parties to propose a number of measures that would have helped 2025 increase significantly, as science tells us it is necessary. Not in these documents,” Alok Sharma of the United Kingdom said emphasizing the last part.
“Clearly get rid of coal. Not in this text. A clear commitment to get rid of all fossil fuels. Not in this text. And the strong voice weakened in the last minutes.”
And in his speech to the negotiators, the head of the UN, Simon Stiell, from Grenada, asked the world to “get away from fossil fuels, including coal and natural gas”.
‘This is great’
However, the war was covered by a historic compensation fund.
“We have little good to enjoy in the midst of gloom and doom” without reducing carbon emissions, said climate expert Maarten van Aalst of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center, which responds to climate disasters.
It’s a picture of what could happen if poor countries are still united, said Alex Scott, a climate expert at the E3G think tank.
“I think this is great to have governments coming together to implement the first step of … how to deal with the problem of loss and damage,” Scott said.
But like all climate funds, it’s one thing to build a fund, and get money flowing in and out, he said. Developed countries have yet to keep their 2009 pledge to spend $100bn a year in additional climate aid – designed to help poor countries build green energy and adapt to future warming.
Next year’s talks will see further discussions to explain the details of the new fund of losses and damages, as well as to review what the world is doing to meet the goals of the Paris agreement, which scientists say is leaving.
According to the agreement, the fund began to use funds from developed countries and other private and public organizations such as international financial institutions.
Although developing countries such as China would not support it, the option is still on the table. This is of particular importance to the EU and the United States, which argue that China and other major polluters currently classified as developing countries have the economic power and responsibility to pay.
The fund will focus on the most vulnerable countries, although there may be room for middle-income countries most affected by climate disasters to receive assistance.
Martin Kaiser, head of Greenpeace Germany, described the loss and damage agreement as “a small plaster on a big, broken wound”.
