Hopes for breakthroughs at the climate conference in Egypt were slim. Can the delegates still agree on important common steps against global warming?
The international climate conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, is entering its decisive week. By Friday, the representatives of almost 200 countries want to agree on further joint steps against global warming. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (both Greens) are expected from Germany for the important final days of negotiations.
Development Aid Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) is officially launching a global protective shield against climate risks this Monday (8.30 a.m.) together with ministers from the group of particularly vulnerable countries (V20). The countries particularly hard hit by disasters such as hurricanes, droughts or floods organized a few years ago in the V20, which now includes 58 countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Latin America.
The new pot of money is intended to be part of the answer to the problem of climate damage and losses, which is being discussed at the UN conference for the first time as a central strand of negotiations. Germany is providing 170 million euros as start-up financing. It is unclear which other countries are participating with how much money.
Dispute over the financing of climate-related damage
Halfway through the meeting, a dispute over the financing of climate-related damage in poorer countries emerged. According to the environmental organization Greenpeace, several rich countries, including the United States, Great Britain and Australia, are blocking progress. According to the Guardian, US climate commissioner John Kerry said at a press conference that the US was “100 percent ready to talk”.
The executive director of Greenpeace Germany, Martin Kaiser, explained: “The people most affected by the climate crisis, who contribute the least to global warming, are right to demand and demand reliable support from the rich super emitters to combat their existence-threatening situation.” The international community must therefore agree on its own well-stocked fund by the end of the conference, from which it can compensate for future damage and losses, for example from storms or floods.
“In order to counteract the dramatically worsening climate crisis and still be able to comply with the 1.5-degree limit, one of the key results of the conference must also be to finally decide to phase out coal, oil and gas worldwide,” emphasized Kaiser. For Germany, this means, among other things, no further investments in new gas production projects abroad.
For the negotiators, the question of how to close the gaping gap between what the states have promised in terms of climate protection measures and what would be necessary to achieve the Paris climate goals remains at least as urgent as the financial dispute. At the weekend, even corporations such as Amazon, Nestlé, Microsoft and Ikea, which are often criticized for their environmental footprint, called for compliance with the 1.5-degree target in a joint appeal with around 200 other companies and organizations. Every tenth of a degree counts, they explained.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s actions continue to cause astonishment. After concerns that local security authorities were observing the climate conference, the German embassy complained to the hosts. The German press agency found out on Sunday on the sidelines of the conference. Egyptian security guards observed and filmed events at the German pavilion, it said. The embassy then complained and asked the Egyptian authorities to stop these measures.
In the past few days, events on the human rights situation in Egypt have been held at the German pavilion at the conference, which critics describe as devastating. According to information from delegation circles, the German delegation was made aware of potential safety risks and received instructions on how to behave.
Egyptian security circles denied any surveillance of activists during events surrounding the climate conference, including those at the German pavilion.
World Climate Conference COP27 – English press release from Greenpeace
Source: Stern
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