One day at the COP - D12
COP27: China refuses to finance the "loss and damage" fund proposed by the EU
Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the European Commission, in charge of climate issues, on November 18, 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh.
© Geraud Bosman-Delzons/RFI
Text by: Géraud Bosman-Delzons Follow
12 mins
The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP), which has been held in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) since November 7, officially ends this Friday evening.
The arduous negotiations should spill over into part of the weekend.
The international context is not conducive to making progress in the fight against global warming, which is making its effects felt more and more frequently around the world.
"One day at the COP" delivers a summary of what was said and tied during the day of negotiations, and goes to meet some of its actors.
Advertising
Read more
With our special correspondents in Sharm el-Sheikh
IT IS SAID !
China is not against the EU proposal, but against the means of financing to top up this fund which does not respect the principle of common and shared responsibilities,
Wang Yi, vice-chairman of the climate change committee, told RFI about the European Union's proposal on the creation of a loss and damage support fund (collected by
Yang Mei
).
AT THE COP TODAY.
To analyse.
By JR, CC and GB-D.
♦
This is the final sprint.
There is only one topic that occupies the COP: the preparation of an agreement which aims to raise the ambitions of the fight against climate change and its consequences.
The Egyptian COP Presidency, Sameh Shoukry, expects the talks to end by noon tomorrow.
Observers are very skeptical: there is still a long way to go to arrive at a text, sighs a veteran of negotiations.
The issue has remained unchanged for two weeks: loss and damage.
If nothing concrete is yet recorded, this subject will never have progressed so much in the exchanges.
♦
The European Union,
which was reluctant to set up a new fund, created a surprise last night by proposing a text in this favour.
Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of climate negotiations, spoke this morning: "
We made this honest attempt this morning to build a bridge
", specifying that " over the
past two weeks, we have achieved great step forward.
Now it's up to the other side
” to do the same.
"
We can't take that away from them
," admits our usually more critical source.
However, “
we remain reluctant to the idea of a fund,
still reminds Frans Timmermans.
My reluctance is that I know from experience that it takes time before a fund like this can be established and even longer before it is topped up.
While we have other instruments that we could use to help the most vulnerable.
But they are so attached to this fund, that we accepted.
“
This will be our last offer
,” he added.
Among the European states that were blocking,
France in particular
, changed gears and lost ground.
But here we are, among its conditions, the EU provides that the financing be extended to certain emerging or even rich economies such as China, the world's second largest economy.
This proposal could not only exclude it from obtaining aid but also force it to pay for its emissions.
♦ China prefers to “start a process
”
.
Wang Yi, scientist and adviser to the Chinese delegation to the COP.
RFI spoke exclusively with him and he reacts to the proposed text of the European Union.
“
China supports the basic idea.
But they put conditions with which we do not agree.
For example, they want India and China to participate in the financial support.
We developing countries say no.
The most important thing I think is to start a new process, we can for loss and damage set up a new working group, maybe a new financial mechanism to deal with this issue
, ”he explains.
Wang Yi, vice-president of the commission on climate change at the COP, November 18, 2022. © Géraud Bosman-Delzons/RFI
China is a member of the G77, which brings together emerging and less developed countries.
Its place in this group is increasingly questioned, as its GDP progresses.
Soon,
the Middle Kingdom will no longer be considered as an emerging country
but as a developed country.
"
China has other possibilities to help fragile countries, in particular through South-South cooperation, which can also provide the means to compensate for this damage.
The problem today is that the developed countries have not only still not delivered on their $100 billion aid pledge, but they are changing the subject and asking developing countries like China to participate in the financing.
This kind of behavior is neither logical nor in line with the basic principles of the Paris Agreement
,” Wang Yi concludes.
Moreover, some, such as the Alliance of Small Islands (AOSIS), perceive in the European Union's proposal an attempt to undermine the group 77 which is made up of vulnerable countries such as Pakistan.
“
We can clearly suspect the European Union of dividing and conquering.
I think it's a tactic that is assumed on their side to say that in fact they are going to achieve something by managing to deconstruct this G77 group which is made up of emerging countries like China, but also of countries such as small island states.
They are trying to appeal to small island states to accept this offer and thus break the unity of the G77
,” explains Aurore Mathieu, head of international policies at the Climate Action Network.
Finally, the last country to be firmly positioned against the creation of a fund: the United States.
So far, they are not expressed on the subject.
In the plenary session this afternoon, they did not take the floor.
♦
Civil society
, for its part, feels
unconvinced by the proposed text.
This afternoon in plenary, the States had tough exchanges on the ambitions to be affirmed on the reductions of greenhouse gases.
Moreover, the last proposal of the text mentions that it remains possible to “
reduce and rationalize inefficient fossil fuel subsidies
”.
In other words, the financing of these polluting energies can continue.
This shows the weight of the oil and gas lobbies at this COP underlines a connoisseur of these meetings.
And a blow for civil society organizations that campaign for the explicit registration of the “
exit
” from oil, gas and coal.
Various States are trying to organize themselves under the impetus of Colombia so that this mention is registered there (read below “They make the COP”).
Finally, some organizations lack notions such as human rights, fair, just and rapid transition and too little progress on biodiversity, while the dedicated conference will be held in a month in Canada.
BEHIND THE SCENES IN IMAGE.
The green zone
In previous editions, here and there, we have been able to tell what is happening in the secret negotiation rooms of the blue zone.
On the sidelines, there is also a green zone which traditionally hosts NGOs for the protection of the environment, human rights, citizens' and youth movements, and organizes workshops, conferences and artistic performances... searched for everyone, in vain.
Instead, the private sector and representatives of ministries.
While 46,117 people were registered – and just over 27,000 were physically present – the green one was very deserted.
We left to discover the places.
{{ scope.counterText }}
{{ scope.legend }} © {{ scope.credits }}
{{ scope.counterText }}
I
{{ scope.legend }}
© {{ scope.credits }}
In this lot, the Egyptian nature protection association looks like an oasis in the desert.
They are inexhaustible on birds.
Egypt and the shores of the Red Sea are the second largest migratory highway in the world, used by birds traveling from Europe to Africa: there are about 1.5 million of them each year making the trip.
One of them, the peregrine falcon, is particularly popular in a country neighboring Egypt: the United Arab Emirates.
The capture of the bird is illegal.
But rich Emiratis are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to have one on their arm.
THEY MAKE THE COP.
Three questions to… Susana Muhamad, Colombian Minister of the Environment
Susana Muhamad, Colombian Minister of the Environment, November 18, 2022. © Raphaël Moran/RFI
Colombia is part of Group 77+China, a bloc of 135 emerging and developing countries.
Bogota is pushing to advance the issue of phasing out fossil fuels: "
We have drafted a text committing the convention to gradually eliminate all fossil fuels in accordance with science, as part of a global and collective effort, but this position does not little support
," said the Colombian minister.
Raphaël Moran:
The current draft agreement contains an explicit paragraph on the abandonment of coal as a fuel.
Does this mean that Colombia is abandoning its coal mines?
Susana Muhamad:
Yes, it's a commitment that has been made since Glasgow.
We know that despite the rebound in coal due to the war crisis in Ukraine, its use will tend to decline.
This is why the economic transition for Colombia will have implications for its tax revenues and its international trade balance.
This is not an easy task.
We need to make an orderly transition in the employment sector.
We must ensure the transition of entire regions that today depend on coal.
And we have the political will to make this effort.
However, we do not see so much clarity in reaching multilateral agreements.
Colombia has put a plan to swap debt for climate actions on the negotiating table at this climate summit. How would this mechanism work?
SM:
Today, Colombia pays 20% of its annual budget in foreign debt.
If we had 5% debt relief for climate action, that 5% of the annual budget could go directly to the government to implement its climate action on adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage.
It gives us fiscal space.
That's a lot more than the climate action budget has today.
And at least 10 times more than what we get in annual international climate change cooperation.
It was in the first draft, we thought it was interesting, and we hope some references can be made.
Were you able to get support from other countries?
SM:
We have a proposal in which Mexico, Paraguay, Panama, Honduras, Antigua and Barbuda, Ecuador, the European Union and Colombia supported the fact that the COP calls for progress on the debt reform and reform of the international financial system so that countries can have fiscal capacity.
But it is a position, for example, that countries like China do not support.
What China is saying is that debt is not an issue to be dealt with in this COP.
According to this logic, the debt is not within the jurisdiction of the COP.
We would like to send a strong message that this would be a way to generate climate justice.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
COP27
Environment
China
European Union