Trust is an important currency in climate diplomacy, and it has been damaged time and time again.

When the developing and emerging countries made the commitment to carbon reduction in Paris in 2015, the industrialized nations promised them to pay $ 100 billion into a climate fund every year.

When former American President Barack Obama spoke in Glasgow on Monday, activists from developing countries shouted, "Where is the 100 billion, Obama?"

Because only a small part of the money has actually flowed so far.

Timo Steppat

Editor in politics.

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While the funds for measures to combat climate change are increasing, the proportion of climate adaptation money for the global south is falling in relative terms.

Money that can be used, for example, to prevent floods or to prevent heat waves.

Germany announced on Tuesday that it would increase its own spending on climate adaptation in developing countries by 150 million euros.

According to the Ministry of the Environment, the country is making a total of two billion euros available for international climate adaptation every year.

The European Commission also promised on Tuesday afternoon that it would pay an additional 100 million euros for climate adaptation. 

It still crunches in many places

Meanwhile, the countries of the global south are demanding more progress than in the past in the damage and loss chapter.

The question is whether the industrialized countries that caused climate change will pay for the damage it causes.

Although the industrialized countries have a bad conscience, there is also a real panic of concessions.

Because this could also give rise to legal and financial claims by the federal states and private individuals, the consequences of which are difficult to foresee.

The question now seems to be whether the costs of rebuilding regions that have been destroyed by climate change could come partly from the climate fund, which was primarily designed to adapt to climate change.

At the beginning of the second week of the climate conference, negotiators keep repeating the motto "Nothing is decided until everything is decided."

On Tuesday there were bilateral negotiations between representatives of different positions on fundamental issues.

Rwanda as the representative of the developing countries and Switzerland as the representative of the ambitious states negotiated the time frame in which the national contributions (NDCs) to CO2 reduction are to be announced in the future.

So far, only the island states that have been severely affected by climate change want new targets to be due next year.

How resilient are the rules?

British negotiator Archie Young named the timeframe, the verifiability of the NDCs and transparency as key challenges in the upcoming negotiations.

These points form the core of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which has been intended to be precisely defined for years.

The completion of the rulebook failed in Madrid and is one of the central projects of the British Presidency.

In the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, there should be final negotiations at diplomatic level before the environment ministers take over on Wednesday.

It is said that the ministers could only find more ambitious compromises if the conflicts are manageable.

The question of how resilient the rules are also depends on whether the limitation of global heating by 1.5 degrees is still within reach.

Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Australia in particular act as brakes in the discussions, observers report.

China, the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, is critical, but is probably ready to compromise.

In particular, China had fought hard in the past against the transparency rules according to which the NDCs are announced and controlled.

Non-governmental organizations criticize the fact that the EU and the USA, which are actually pursuing ambitious goals, are relatively cautious in the negotiations.

EU Commissioner Frans Timmermans praised the work of the diplomats and negotiators on Tuesday afternoon, but was "very far from" reaching the 1.5 degree target.

"We are running out of time," said Timmermans.

The EU stands at the side of all those who are fighting for higher goals.