At the heart of the dispute was the vexed issue of loss and damage, which refers to the devastating effects of climate collapse suffered by the poorest and most vulnerable countries and how to help them. Delegates could not agree on whether and how to put the loss and damage on the agenda of the two-week summit in Egypt, which will be attended by 196 countries, 45,000 people and 120 world leaders. Discussions on the agenda started at 3pm on Saturday, continued until 1am without a solution and finally ended on Sunday morning. The scheduled 10 a.m. start was delayed by hours, and delegates worried that the contentious start could signal a tentative conference. “This is going to be a tough cop,” one negotiator told the Guardian. The last item on the agenda led the conference of the parties to discuss “issues related to financing arrangements that respond to losses and damages related to the adverse effects of climate change, including a focus on addressing losses and damages.” NGOs welcomed the resolution. Ani Dasgupta, president of the World Resources Institute, said: “Vulnerable nations have tirelessly called for help to address the alarming and devastating climate impacts they have little responsibility for causing. Today, countries have overcome a historic first hurdle to recognize and respond to the call for funding to address increasingly severe loss and damage.” The start of the summit also marked the moment when the UK handed over its chairmanship of the talks to Egypt. Alok Sharma, chairman of UK Cop26, which took place in Glasgow last year, said: “To those who remain skeptical about the multilateral process, and the police process in particular, my message is clear: so cumbersome and sometimes so frustrating as these processes can be, the system delivers.” He warned of the dangers of failing to act on the climate crisis. “As challenging as our current moment [in terms of the global economic and geopolitical situation] That is, inaction is myopic and can only postpone climate catastrophe. How many more wake-up calls do world leaders really need? One third of Pakistan is underwater. Nigeria’s worst floods in a decade. This year, the worst drought in 500 years in Europe, 1,000 years in the US and the worst on record in China. The cascading risks are also clear…whole regions become unsustainable.” The most important stories on the planet. Get all the week’s environmental news – the good, the bad and the must-haves Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Simon Stiell, the UN climate chief and former environment minister for Grenada, warned countries that they would be held to account for the promises they made last year in Glasgow. At Cop26, countries agreed to try to prevent global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. But emissions cut pledges made there were insufficient to meet that target, so the governments also agreed to return to the table this year with improved plans. Most have so far failed to do so. Stiell said: “Only 29 countries had presented rigorous national plans since Cop26 – 29 is not 194. So here I am now looking at 165 countries that are going to review and strengthen their national commitments this year.” He added: “I will not be a custodian of regression. We know what needs to be done by everyone everywhere, every day, doing everything we can. Colleagues, it’s time to get to work.” Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian Foreign Minister who chairs Cop27, said: “We are pleased to have for the first time an agenda item on loss and damage, which is recognized as a very controversial issue that needs to be addressed. treated with transparency and dedication”.
