COP27: rich and poor countries discuss damages, costs and compensation for climate change
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Countries at COP27 propose a financial fund for the richest and most polluting countries to help cushion the damage caused by the effects of pollution and climate change in poor countries.
During COP27 in Egypt, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to “pressure rich non-European countries” to “pay their share” in helping poor countries fight climate change.” and China must respond” to this challenge since Europeans are “the only ones who pay”, he explained at a meeting with young people in Sharm el Sheikh.
The poorest and least polluting countries suffer the most serious effects of extreme phenomena such as floods, droughts, fires or the rise in sea level. “That solidarity is essential, because we are all in the same boat,” said a European diplomat.
Until now, Europe and the United States have been reluctant, for fear that the most vulnerable countries could bring them to justice and demand reparations. A concern ruled out by this diplomatic source, which invokes the text of the 2015 Paris Agreement, and by the Egyptian Foreign Minister and president of COP27, Sameh Shoukri.
Deadline until 2024, but pollution does not stop
The deadline to reach a conclusion is 2024, and the inclusion of this item on the agenda does not guarantee that this fund will be created.
With all the climate indicators in the red - record emissions in 2021, CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, rise in ocean levels, temperature record in the last eight years -, in Egypt a balancing act is being carried out between the demand to cut emissions, and the argument of developing countries that the most industrialized cannot deny them the right to exploit their hydrocarbons now.
The Costa Rican Minister of Environment and Energy, Franz Tattenbach, will promote an initiative already supported by more than 100 countries, which seeks to protect 30% of the planet's land and oceans by the year 2030.
Likewise, the Colombian Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad, will meet with her Norwegian counterpart, Espen Barth Eide, and with representatives from Germany and the United Kingdom to attract funds to contain deforestation in the Amazon.