COP27 is scheduled to wrap up in 24 hours but countries remain divided on several significant issues including ‘loss and damage’, the UN Secretary-General said on Thursday, urging parties to rise to the urgency of the moment and agree on real solutions to solve the greatest challenge facing humanity.
“There is clearly a breakdown in trust between North and South, and between developed and emerging economies. This is no time for finger-pointing. The blame game is a recipe for mutually assured destruction,” António Guterres told journalists at the Sharm el-Sheikh International Conference Centre.
The UN chief urged countries to deliver the kind of meaningful action that people, and the planet, so desperately need.
“The world is watching and has a simple message: stand and deliver,” he underscored.
Mr. Guterres reminded world leaders that global emissions are at their highest levels in history, and climate impacts are decimating economies and societies.
“The most effective way to rebuild trust is by finding an ambitious and credible agreement on loss and damage and financial support to developing countries. The time for talking on loss and damage finance is over. We need action,” he stated, urging negotiators to deliver concrete solutions to resolve one of the thorniest issues on the table at this year’s COP, or Conference of Parties, to the UN climate convention.
The UN chief also asked negotiators to send a clear signal that the voices of those on the frontlines of the crisis are being heard, while the world burning and drowning before their eyes.
“Reflect the urgency, scale and enormity of the challenge faced by developing countries. We cannot continue to deny climate justice to those who have contributed least to the climate crisis and are getting hurt the most,” he explained.
For the first time in the history of UN climate conferences, the issue of loss and damage has been included in the official agenda.
The creation of a new financial facility to compensate for the losses suffered by vulnerable countries hit hardest by natural disasters, is a key demand by the negotiating bloc known as the Group of the 77, which represents nearly all developing countries.
The Secretary-General also touched on another issue that has troubled climate activists in the past days: keeping up the ambition to curb global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“The 1.5 target is not simply about keeping a goal alive – it’s about keeping people alive. I see the will to keep to the 1.5 goal – but we must ensure that commitment is evident in the COP27 outcome,” he said, adding that the current fossil fuel companies’ expansion is “hijacking humanity”
Once again, Mr. Guterres made the case for renewables, and a Climate Global Solidarity pact with developed countries taking the lead in reducing emissions.
“A Pact with developed countries taking the lead in reducing emissions. And a Pact to mobilize – together with International Financial Institutions and the private sector – financial and technical support for emerging economies to accelerate their transition to renewable energy,” he said.
Mr. Guterres underscored that renewables are the “exit ramp from the climate hell highway”, referring to one of the most powerful messages from his speech last week at the opening of COP27.
The UN Secretary-General also asked for the delivery of the $100 billion annually in climate finance promised at COP15 in Copenhagen.
He asked the Parties to act in consensus to double their investments in adaptation and reform multilateral development banks and international financial institutions.
“They must provide the support developing countries need to embark on a renewable energy and climate-resilient pathway”, he highlighted.
Finally, Mr. Guterres reminded negotiators that the “climate clock is ticking” and that they have a chance to make a difference, so they must act quickly.
“We have agreed solutions in front of us – to respond to loss and damage, to close the emissions gap, and to deliver on finance”, he concluded.