The European Union unblocks the uphill negotiation on the Loss&Damage fund. And COP27 is getting longer

It was supposed to end today with a draft agreement but the negotiations are still ongoing and the achievement of an agreement would seem within reach.

So much so that the Egyptian presidency of

, which has been underway for two weeks in

, has decided to extend

the work until tomorrow

The stakes are too high not to miss this opportunity.

The

has broken the deadlock in the negotiations for the age-old issue of

, the relief for losses and damages due to extreme climatic phenomena, which should go to those governments and those populations affected on the front line.

Brussels says yes to the fund to restore them in the face of the consequences of global warming in the poorest countries: with this gesture, perhaps COP27 would save itself from a failed stalemate.

But it's still too early to tell.

The European proposal aims to

and to bind itself to stringent de-carbonization objectives.

Beijing does not want to hear about it, and the negotiations are still open.

The only sure thing is that COP27 will not end tonight, as planned, but will continue until at least Saturday, perhaps Sunday.

Negotiations to the bitter end?

The twist came in the morning: the Vice-President of the European Commission,

, waking up journalists for an unusual press conference at 8, announced that

for the relief of

caused by the change climate.

It would enter the Paris Agreement and be

.

The fund is the main objective at COP27 for emerging and developing countries

of the G77+China group, led by Beijing.

The US and the EU had so far resisted, because they believed that the tool would be too burdensome for them, and would take too long to start working.

The clash between the two sides had blocked the negotiations, and was leading COP27 towards failure.

The turning point of the EU seems to pave the way for some success.

In return, the European Union requests that the stringent decarbonisation commitments undertaken at Cop26 in Glasgow last year be reaffirmed in the final document: in particular, keeping

of pre-industrial levels and reaching greenhouse

gas

, and then decline.

In addition, the fund must receive contributions from "a broad donor base."

So even from the Chinese superpower.

For Beijing, the proposal is destabilizing, a real slap in the face.

China has weaved a clever diplomatic plot with the G77 to force the US and EU to pay them the fund for losses and damages, playing the part of leader of developing countries and denying evidence of its role as superpower.

The EU proposal would force it to shell out money for aid to

and for decarbonisation.

But Beijing wants Westerners to pay for the fund, and does not want to be bound by too strict constraints on the climate.

The object of the dispute is precisely this: the instrument for the fund will be implemented, the EU's ok goes in this direction.

But the problem is who will disburse the shares to finance it and what conditions it will have.

In this comparison,

it is they who should pay out the largest sums for the fund and obviously would not want to do so.

But a president like Joe Biden cannot say no to aid to poor countries.

So the United States keeps aloof by pushing the European Union forward.

The first real draft of the final document came out last night.

Inside is the fund for

but the paragraph on operation is still empty.

The section on the update of climate finance, the famous aid fund worth 100 billion dollars a year, which never started, is also empty.

There are also many other incomplete parts, from the ceiling to heating to decarbonisation, from renewables to the stop to subsidies for fossil fuels.

On the farewell to coal and human rights the same desolate silence.