Egypt pushes to bridge gaps at UN talks

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — Egypt is pushing to bridge the gaps between negotiating parties at the United Nations climate conference after negotiators finalized draft deals as the first week of the summit ended in the seaside resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Egypt's Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad said the biggest challenge for Egypt as a host country is to have negotiators "convinced on different issues", including funds for countries to adapt to climate change and a consensus on loss and damage, meaning industrialized countries financing poorer, vulnerable ones being harmed by climate change.

Speaking to The Associated Press at the climate summit, also known as COP27, Fouad said Egypt is also working to advance the working program aimed at limiting warming to 1.5 C since preindustrial times in line with the Paris Agreement of 2015. Egypt has said it will pressure other countries to implement climate promises made at previous conferences.

"There is a kind of agreement that we need to push the agenda forward," Fouad said of negotiations. "But it depends on all of us on that."

Finance is another major challenge for developing countries looking to curb emissions, switch to renewable energy and protect their vulnerable communities from climatic shocks, such as drought and flooding. For the first time the summit agenda also includes the issue of loss and damage.

Rift of distrust

Rich countries have already fallen short of a pledge to mobilize $100 billion a year by 2020 in climate finance for poor countries. This has opened up a rift of distrust that negotiators are hoping to close with fresh pledges. But needs are growing, and a new, higher target needs to be set from 2025 on, some countries say.

On Saturday, hundreds of environmental activists called on industrialized countries to pay for the impact of global warming.

The protesters marched through a conference zone considered United Nations territory and governed by the global body's rules.

Protesters also called for drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions being pumped into the atmosphere. Emissions continue to rise but scientists say the amount of heat-trapping gases needs to be almost halved by 2030 to meet the temperature-limiting goals of the Paris Agreement.

Activists chanted "keep it in the ground" in reference to their rejection of the continued extraction of fossil fuels.

On Friday, activists heckled US President Joe Biden's speech and raised an orange banner reading "People vs fuels" before they were removed.

Agencies Via Xinhua