
Sameh Shoukry, president of the COP27 climate summit speaks during the summit, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. AP
Sameh Shoukry, the COP27 president and Egypt’s foreign minister, urged extra efforts, saying “today we need to shift gears again, time is not on our side," as reported by the AFP.
Representatives of developing and developed nations at the COP27, which was scheduled to end on Friday, have been unable to agree on a final climate deal due to persisting disagreements over funding for loss and damage.
"I remain committed to bringing this conference to a close tomorrow in an orderly manner," Shoukry told the delegates in a session today.
In the early morning hours of Friday, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) released a COP27 draft negotiating text to be hashed out by the countries’ delegates in the remaining few hours of the annual climate summit in Sharm El-Sheikh.
The draft deal, time-stamped 03:30 Cairo local time, reaffirmed the Paris Agreement goal of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.
However, the draft did not include a proposed solution to the contentious issue of financing loss and damage as demanded by a number of developing countries.
The text in the draft welcomed placing the issue of loss and damage for the first time on the COP agenda but left a placeholder for the funding arrangement.
Late Thursday night, the European Union, however, made an offer to create a fund to help the most vulnerable countries that would be part of a "mosaic" of options for providing money from a range of sources.
"I have to say this is our final offer," European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans told reporters on Friday.
"This is where the (EU) member states can find an agreement and I have to thank all of them for for the courage to go this far. But this is it," he said.
Loss and damage: Sticking issue
Developing countries have pushed for COP27 to agree on creating the funding facility -- an idea that has faced reluctance from richer polluters wary of liability.
Various parties in the negotiations to reach a final climate deal at the COP27 could not reach agreement on the issue of loss and damage on Thursday.
A preliminary draft deal that was issued by the COP27 presidency in the early hours of Thursday morning drew criticism from a number of representatives of developing countries for failing to specify a mechanism to fund loss and damage.
In a press conference on Thursday evening with UN Secretary General António Guterres, COP27 President Sameh Shoukry said extra efforts will be needed Friday to respond to the urgent and legitimate demand for adequate funding for loss and damage.
“Ambitious outcomes on finance have not yet materialised, and loss and damage parties are shying away from taking the difficult political decisions,” he said.
Meanwhile, Guterres appealed during the press conference to world leaders to find a solution and reach an agreement on financing loss and damage.
"We are at crunch time in the negotiations. COP27 is scheduled to close in 24 hours – and the parties remain divided on a number of significant issues."
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