Cop 27.. Egypt sends a message to the countries of the world

Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the COP27 climate conference, called on nearly 200 countries gathered in Egypt to “rise to the occasion”.

Speaking a day after the conference was supposed to end, Shoukry said he knew there was a lot of “resentment” among all parties, but called on countries to show determination to reach consensus.

He added that the “vast majority” of countries considered the draft resolutions submitted by the Presidency of the Climate Conference “balanced”.

After a night of intense negotiations following the extension of the conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Sameh Shoukry said, “The vast majority of the parties informed me that they consider the text balanced and may lead to a possible breakthrough to reach consensus.”

It is noteworthy that the conference, which started with an optimistic push, with the Egyptian presidency of the summit announcing in the opening speech the inclusion of financing losses and damages on the agenda in a precedent that is the first of its kind in the history of climate summits, collided with new procrastination by major industrialized countries in reaching a decision to launch a fund to be funded by He accepted it to compensate developing and poor countries that have been affected by climate change despite not contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.

The draft final statement of the summit, issued by the Egyptian presidency, revealed sharp polarization between the countries of the North and the South, and reflected the divergent positions between visions and aspirations on the main issues in the negotiations.

The affected southern countries are calling for a fund dedicated to financing losses and damages, which is the main issue on the negotiating agenda, as well as financing climate adaptation plans and working to reduce emissions.

For its part, the United States and the European Union express reservations about establishing a separate financing mechanism for losses and damages, in light of the existence of existing financing institutions that can do so, and some countries have expressed their willingness to finance alone away from the existence of a financing entity in the agreement.