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November 13, 2022 12:00 am | Updated 05:43 am IST - SHARM EL-SHEIKH
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A few countries have resisted mentioning a global goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C in the official text of the COP-27 summit in Egypt, U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry said at the conference on Saturday.
“You’re absolutely correct. There are very few countries, but a few, that have raised the issue of not mentioning this word or that word,” Mr. Kerry said when asked about opposition by some governments to mentioning the 1.5C target.
World governments agreed in 2015 during a UN summit in France to try to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5°C, a deal dubbed the Paris Agreement that was seen as a breakthrough in international climate ambition.
Greenhouse gas emissions have been rising ever since, however, and scientists say the world risks missing the target without swift and deep cuts. Breaching the 1.5°C threshold risks unleashing the worst consequences of global warming.
Already, the world has warmed more than 1.1°C from the preindustrial average temperature — fueling extreme weather that is already delivering steep economic losses.
Many developing countries have demanded the establishment of a “loss and damage” fund that could disperse cash to countries struggling to recover from disasters.
Mr. Kerry said the United States would not support establishing such a fund, and instead believed existing platforms should be used. “It’s a well known fact that the U.S. and many other countries will not establish ... some sort of legal structure that is tied to compensation or liability. That’s just not happening,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mexico said it will strengthen its emissions-cutting efforts as part of a $48 billion renewable energy investment scheme with the United States.
Separately, chants of “free them all” and “no climate justice without human rights” rang out between the halls of COP27 Saturday, in the largest protest since the UN climate summit began.
Jailed Egyptian dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah’s sister, Sanaa Seif, who is at the summit campaigning for her brother’s release, marched in the front line with hundreds behind her.
Seven months into a hunger strike, Abdel Fattah began refusing water last Sunday, as world leaders arrived in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for COP-27.
(with AFP inputs)
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