Debates at the climate conference: “Dissatisfaction from all sides”

The climate conference in Egypt is being extended – and the participants are still struggling on many points. Emission reduction and the financing of climate damage are particularly controversial.

Although today’s climate conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, is a day longer than planned, there is still no hope of an agreement. The participants from around 200 countries continue to discuss a possible final declaration.

There are disputes above all over the financing of climate damage and the reduction of emissions. “There is an equal level of dissatisfaction from all sides,” said COP President Samih Schukri. However, a large majority of the participants indicated that they perceive the current draft as balanced and as a basis for a potential breakthrough, according to Schukri.

Schukri did not answer whether the conference might fail because individual countries find the commitments too weak. Each party also has the full right not to join a consensus, he stressed.

The EU insists on ambitious formulations

The EU climate protection commissioner, Frans Timmermanns, said the EU would not cross certain red lines: “It is better to have no result than a bad one.” He was concerned about the position of some participants, said the Vice President of the EU Commission. The EU will struggle to reach an agreement until the end – if necessary, he is also prepared to leave the conference without an explanation.

“1.5 degrees must not die here today,” said Timmermanns. Ambitious formulations are important to the EU in order to curb the catastrophic consequences of the climate crisis.

US Representative Kerry falls ill with Corona

The struggle for an international climate policy is also made more difficult by the fact that the US climate commissioner John Kerry has to continue the negotiations by telephone after a positive corona test. His spokeswoman said on Friday evening that he had gone into isolation with mild symptoms.

“He is working over the phone with his team of negotiators as well as foreign counterparts to ensure a successful outcome of COP27,” the spokeswoman said.

Financing of climate damage remains controversial

There is still a problem “on the two crucial points,” said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) in an interview with the daily topics on Friday night. On the one hand, it is about a work program on how the world can halve its greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years. From a European point of view, this means that all industrialized countries report annually on how they are progressing with their climate targets in the individual sectors – transport, buildings, energy – as is already done in the EU.

The second point of contention is the financing of repairing climate damage in poor countries. This particularly affects island states and very poor African countries, said Baerbock. They could no longer cope with the effects of the climate crisis, for example because entire villages would have to be resettled and the countries lacked the resources for this. “They rightly say: ‘We need money for this’. That’s the so-called money for damages and losses.” This is being blocked by states that also have large emissions, Baerbock said.

Greenpeace boss has little hope

Greenpeace Managing Director Martin Kaiser doubts that the climate conference will be successful. 600 lobbyists from oil and gas companies are traveling in Egypt, Kaiser told the “Rheinische Post”. They wanted to soften the 1.5 degree target. “As long as these people continue to have access to the top echelons of international politics, I find it difficult to believe in the urgently needed success of the conference,” said Kaiser.

The climate crisis requires decisive action – “now”. Because of the strong demand for gas, an emissions record can be expected again in 2023, according to the head of Greenpeace Germany. That must change all the more in 2024: “We have no more time to lose.”