Climate summit in Egypt disappointing

Despite a breakthrough on some of the toughest issues in international climate policy, the summit in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, was a big disappointment. There will be a compensation fund for developing countries affected by climate-related natural disasters. But no progress has been made on the key theme of preventing global warming from exceeding dangerous limits.

It reiterates what was already said in Glasgow last year on further rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions: the world must make a concerted effort to keep global average temperatures below 1.5°C. In Glasgow, this was accompanied by a call to bring in tougher reduction plans this year, but that was abandoned.

Some countries, including China and Saudi Arabia, wanted to remove one-and-a-half degrees entirely from the final declaration, but if that happened, the EU threatened to pull out. This number remains the same, and countries are asked to submit new reduction plans by the end of next year. As a result, a year is lost for ambitious policy.

Minister Rob Jetton (Climate, D66), who attended the finals on behalf of the Netherlands, said the final result was therefore “very disappointing”. He said he hoped the agreement on climate change would restore “trust between the global North and South”. This makes it possible to “achieve new breakthroughs next year for real acceleration in our climate approach”.

Damage Fund

Developing countries are very satisfied with the end result. They came to Sharm el-Sheikh with one goal: to get rich countries to pay for the damage that climate change is already causing in many places. Rich countries bear the greatest responsibility for this, poor countries do not contribute. A reparation fund could redress part of that injustice.

For nearly three decades, industrialized nations, the United States at the forefront, have withheld such funding. They fear legal liability and fear the bottom hole. But this year’s floods in Nigeria and Pakistan, which could cause $40 billion in damage, and a severe drought in the Horn of Africa have made opposition from wealthy nations in Egypt untenable.

Also listen to this podcast: Who Pays Poor Countries’ Climate Fee?

At the last day, Europe came up with a proposal for a reparations fund, which was eventually supported by the United States. Negotiations then dragged on over conditions: According to the EU, the money would only be given to the most vulnerable countries and must be paid by countries that were still considered developing countries at the start of the climate talks in 1992, but have not been for a long time.

In this way, Europe hoped to play off poorer countries and China, forming a powerful coalition in climate negotiations in the G77+China group. It didn’t work. China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar retain their status as developing countries in the UN climate agreement. Formally, they can also draw from funds. This will be further discussed at the next climate summit in Dubai.

Fossil fuels

There will also be another discussion on increasing ambition to combat climate change. Especially in a country that lives off oil extraction, new agreements must be made to quickly end the use of fossil fuels. Sharm el-Sheikh could not agree on this.

“A compensation fund is essential,” UN chief Antonio Guterres said in response to Egypt’s decisions. “But it’s not an answer if the climate crisis wipes small island states off the map or turns an entire African country into a desert.”

Egypt, the host nation, is proud of the final result. The chairman of the summit, Foreign Minister Sameh Shogri, spoke of “a historic agreement” and proof that “multilateral diplomacy still works”.