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| Establishment of 'harm and damage' fund 'major step' towards climate justice: PM |
Sharm El Sheikh:
Prime Minister Sehbaz Sharif on Sunday said the establishment of a "harm and loss" fund at the UN's COP27 climate summit is the "first important step towards the goal of environmental justice".
The Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of Climate Change Minister Senator Sherry Rehman and his team.
During her keynote address to the parliamentary session at the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP-27) earlier this week, Sherry highlighted the high cost of climate 'inaction'.
Shahbaz's remarks came as countries adopted a hard-fought final deal at the COP27 climate summit earlier on Sunday that establishes a fund to help poorer countries hit by climate disasters - but these Does not promote efforts to address emissions caused by
The senator also tweeted welcoming the announcement, adding that it is an important first step to affirming the fundamental principles of climate justice.
After tense negotiations that lasted through the night, the Egyptian COP27 presidency released the final text for an agreement as well as convened a plenary session to resolve it urgently.
The session first approved text provision establishing a "loss and damage" fund to help developing countries bear the immediate costs of climate-fueled events, such as hurricanes and floods.
But it kicked off many of the controversial decisions on the fund into next year, when an "interim committee" will make recommendations for countries to adopt at the COP28 climate summit in November 2023.
The recommendations will cover the "identification and expansion of funding sources" - referring to the vexed question of which countries should pay into the new fund.
Calls for such a fund from developing countries have dominated the two-week summit, pushing talks past their scheduled end on Friday.
And after a break for Switzerland to review the final text, negotiators didn't budge as COP27 president Samih Shoukry rattled off final agenda items.
By dawn at the summit venue in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the agreement had been reached.
Fossil fuel burnout
The two-week summit is seen as a test of global resolve to fight climate change - even as war in Europe, energy market turmoil and consumer inflation distract international attention.
Billed as the "African COP", the summit in Egypt promised to highlight the plight of poor countries facing the worst consequences of global warming, particularly the rich. , are due to industrialized countries.
Negotiators from the EU and other countries have previously said they are concerned about efforts to block steps to strengthen last year's Glasgow climate accord.
"While progress on loss and damage was encouraging, it is disappointing that Glasgow's language on curbing emissions was largely copied and pasted," said Ani Desgupta, president of the non-profit World Resources Institute. , instead of taking any significant new steps."
As per earlier iterations, the ratified agreement called for India and some other delegations to phase out the use of "all fossil fuels".
Instead it called on countries to take steps to "phase down unfettered coal power and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies", as agreed at the COP26 Glasgow summit.
The draft also includes a reference to "low-emissions energy," which some worry has opened the door to increased use of natural gas — a fossil fuel that emits both carbon dioxide and methane. leads to.
Norway's climate minister Aspen Barth Ide told reporters his team had hoped for a strong agreement. "It doesn't completely break with Glasgow, but it doesn't raise ambitions at all," he said.
"I think he had another focus. He was very focused on the fund," he said.
