Editorial | COP27 ‘loss and damage’ deal offers hope on climate cooperation
- COP27 averts collapse with last-minute agreement and then witnesses the return of collaboration between China and the United States
The latest global climate summit teetered on the brink of collapse after two weeks of negotiations. Only a last-minute, landmark “loss and damage” deal averted it.
This is an agreement for big polluters to contribute to a fund to pay for climate-related damage to developing nations. Even then, there are still sticking points – including which countries should contribute – that need further discussion.
Regrettably, such detail is unlikely to be settled quickly, going by the lack of progress on the ultimate agenda, which is to cut fossil fuel emissions faster to head off an unsustainable degree of global warming.
A year ago, at COP26 in Glasgow, countries pledged to phase down the use of polluting coal power and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.
At COP27 a proposal to phase down the consumption of all fossil fuels, not just coal, had the support of 80 of nearly 200 countries, according to a Pacific islands delegate. But consensus foundered on opposition from oil and gas producers such as Saudi Arabia and Russia.
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COP27 delivers historic global warming ‘loss and damage’ fund, but no progress on fossil fuels
These countries doubtless were fortified in their resistance by disruption of supplies caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Indeed, cooperation on cutting greenhouse gases is likely to prove elusive during the Ukraine war, amid an energy crisis, food shortages, inflation, growing risks of economic recession and lingering tensions between China and the United States.