Agreement will there be?

COP27 negotiators seemed close on Saturday 19 November to an agreement on an aid fund for the countries most affected by the impacts of climate change, as part of the negotiations being held in Egypt, but many disagreements persisted on the fight against greenhouse gas emissions responsible for these impacts.

The outcome of the conference, which was due to end on Friday, is widely seen as a test of global resolve to tackle climate change, as war in Europe and runaway consumer inflation distract international attention.

The progress of the negotiations, to which Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi once again wanted to give more time, however seemed unsatisfactory this Saturday for the Europeans.

"At this time, still no satisfactory text and up to the climate emergencies. This COP cannot be that of renunciation", said on Twitter the French Minister for the Energy Transition.

#COP27 |

At this time, still no satisfactory text and up to the climatic emergencies.

This COP cannot be that of renunciation.



The 1.5°C global warming target must not die in Sharm el-Sheikh.

— Agnes Pannier-Runacher 🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@AgnesRunacher) November 19, 2022

"The 1.5°C global warming target must not die in Sharm el-Sheikh."

Later in the evening, she reported progress, while specifying that the account was not there yet.

"There has been a lot of movement, but we are not quite there, we will continue to work, to exchange, to obtain a text which is a good agreement", declared the minister.

"Not for the start of the night"

Asked if an agreement was close, she replied: "I think it will take a little while, at least not for the start of the night."

Speaking through the voice of Frans Timmermans, the European Commissioner for Climate Action Policy, the European Union meanwhile threatened to leave the negotiations if no acceptable outcome was found.

The UN on Saturday published a draft text aimed at resolving the difficulties of the negotiators.

It still has to be approved by the nearly 200 countries gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh and the negotiators present on the spot will spend the next few hours studying the project and determining whether it can be adopted.

Incomplete, the text proposes a compromise on the delicate issue of "losses and damage" for countries hit hard by climate change.

A new version specified that the beneficiary countries would be "those which are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change", but the question of financing has not yet been settled and is left to the discretion of the negotiating countries.

The most vulnerable countries are making the launch of this fund a priority, but some rich countries fear that an agreement on the subject will force them to take financial responsibility for their past contribution to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. .

Contrary to the demands of some countries, the ambition to gradually do without fossil fuels is still not covered in this text, which is content to mention the end of the use of coal.

The draft final agreement presented Thursday by the UN however reaffirms the objective of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees adopted last year at COP26 in Glasgow.

It also calls on signatory countries to "accelerate measures to phase out coal-fired electricity generation and to phase out and rationalize inefficient fossil fuel government support".

It therefore does not formally ask for an end to the use of fossil fuels, as India and the European Union had requested.

With Reuters

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