UN's COP27 summit: Poor nations seek their pound of flesh

The demand for poorer countries suffering from climate change to be given compensation should top the agenda at the upcoming United Nations climate summit in Egypt in November, said the chair of an influential negotiating bloc.

Madeleine Diouf Sarr, who chairs the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group, stressed on the fact to The Associated Press that the November conference known as COP27 should capture the voice and needs of the most climate-vulnerable nations and deliver climate justice.

According to Sarr, the group would like an agreement to be made at the summit to establish a dedicated financial facility that pays nations already facing climate change.

The LDC group, comprising 46 nations that make up just a small fraction of global emissions, negotiates as a bloc at the UN summit to champion the interests of developing countries. Issues such as who pays for poorer nations to transition to cleaner energy, making sure no communities get left behind in an energy transition and boosting how well vulnerable people can adapt to climate change, have long been on the bloc’s agenda.

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Developing nations still face serious challenges accessing clean energy finance, with Africa attracting just 2 per cent of the total clean energy investment in the last 20 years, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. The UN weather agency recently estimated that global clean energy supplies must double by 2030 for the world to limit global warming within the set targets.

Sarr added that the bloc will push for funds to help developing countries adapt to droughts, floods and other climate-related events as well as urging developed nations to speed up their plans to reduce emissions. The group is particularly vulnerable to climate change because of their lack of ability to adapt to extremes, the UN weather agency said.

“We have delayed climate action for too long,” said Sarr, pointing to the promised $100 billion a year in climate aid for poorer countries that was pledged over a decade ago.
“We can no longer afford to have a COP that is all talk. The climate crisis has pushed our adaptation limits, resulted in inevitable loss and damage, and delayed our much-needed development,” added Sarr.

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The COP27 President also said this year’s summit should be about implementing plans and pledges that countries have agreed to at previous conferences.

Sarr defended the UN conference as one of the few spaces where our nations come together to hold countries accountable for historical responsibility and pointed to the success of the 2015 conference in Paris in setting the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 F).