NEW DELHI: An updated draft of a proposed deal at the COP27 climate change summit, being held at the Egyptian coastal resort city of Sharmel- Sheikh, reportedly headed for final stages on Saturday over the creation of a fund for compensating poor nations who are victims of climate change worsened by rich nations’ carbon pollution. The agreement would need the approval of about 200 countries taking part at the Sharm-el- Sheikh summit. Reports said negotiators will devote some more time to studying the text to decide whether they can be backed.
Reports suggested this would be a partial breakthrough as states remained locked over other contentious issues. The draft agreement is said to contain only a partial text on the contentious issue of “loss and damage” payments to poor countries impacted by climate change-driven environmental disasters.
The funding arrangement section on loss and damage will likely be added later if the states reached a final agreement. Reports said that in an attempt to narrow the gap between countries’ climate change pledges and the targeted reductions needed to avert the adverse impacts of climate change, the draft text urges that states who are yet to upgrade their 2030 emissions cut targets by 2023-end.
The draft, however, did not contain a reference that India and some other negotiators earlier requested on phasing down the use of “all fossil fuels”, with the text referring to only phasing down of coal, which was agreed upon in the last year’s summit.
Earlier, the climate talks dragged into overtime with no sign of the parties arriving at any consensus on several key issues, including loss and damage, mitigation work programme and adaptation. Sameh Shoukry, the COP27 president, said that negotiations continued through much of Friday but did not lead to any specific agreement. The success of the talks is centred on a fund to address loss and damage or destruction caused by climate change.