National negotiators said progress had been made on the previously deadlocked issue of “loss and damage” financing from rich countries for poorer nations suffering the effects of climate change. But Jennifer Morgan, Germany’s climate minister, said no deal would be approved if it did not include measures to “keep 1.5 alive” – a phrase that became the mantra of last year’s COP26 talks in Glasgow and refers to a target of the 2015 Paris Agreement. keep global warming well below 2C since pre-industrial times, and ideally 1.5C. “We don’t want 1.5C to die here today,” said EU climate chief Frans Timmermans. A group of countries known as the “coalition of high ambitions”, which includes the UK and Germany, said both aspects should be reflected in the final deal. The summit was due to end on Friday but was extended into the weekend as negotiators remained at odds over key issues. “Everything is on the table, these are high stakes, they are called funds,” said one European diplomat. The question of how countries will step up their emissions cuts remained at stake on Saturday, fueling concerns among some negotiators that the 1.5C target could be in jeopardy. “We would rather have no decision than a bad decision,” Timmermans told reporters in Sharm el-Sheikh. “All the ministers. . . Like me, we are ready to walk away if we don’t get a result that lives up to what the world expects, which is to do something about this climate crisis,” he said. Sun Zhen, China’s deputy director-general for climate change, is at the COP talks. China is among the countries resisting the EU proposals © AP China and Saudi Arabia were among countries resisting increased action to cut emissions, as well as the EU’s proposal for “loss and damage” funding for the most vulnerable nations, according to people familiar with the discussions. While climate COPs are always jerky and rarely end on time, it is unusual for a large group of Western countries like the EU to threaten a last-minute withdrawal. “No one should underestimate” the EU’s threat to leave, said Romina Purmohtari, Sweden’s climate and environment minister. “There is nobody here who is willing to go back to our countries and explain to them why we took a step back.” The bloc stressed the importance of building on last year’s Glasgow Climate Accord, which included a commitment to reduce the use of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. COP27 chairman Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister, said on Saturday that the draft text of the final agreement would keep the 1.5C target alive while taking a “holistic approach to addressing the challenges of climate change”. Shoukry said there was “equal dissatisfaction on all sides” but insisted the “vast majority” of parties would find a basis for an agreement. Recommended “There’s never a perfect solution, but there’s an effort I’ve made to provide the basis on which we can move forward,” Soukry said. “Achieving a point of convergence takes some effort.” There were also concerns about the way the Egyptian presidency was handling the summit. “I’ve never experienced anything like it: opaque, unpredictable and chaotic,” a spokesperson said. Country negotiating teams were given only a short time to consider updated texts on several key outstanding issues in the early hours of the morning. “It was not an ordinary process,” an EU official said.
Climate Capital
Where climate change meets business, markets and politics. Explore the FT’s coverage here. Curious about FT’s commitments to environmental sustainability? Learn more about our scientific goals here
