COP27 Update, less than 24 hours to wrap up

The window for achieving an ambitious outcome on COP27 that builds on last year’s summit is becoming smaller by the hour. On Thursday morning, a draft of the final decision, or cover text, was published by the COP27 Presidency. However, NGO experts said that the 20-page document is still just a list of options that must be edited down. (click here for this draft document)

Countries remain divided on several significant issues including climate finance for poorer countries, ‘loss and damage’ funding, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres 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. Below some other of his quotes:

• Stand and deliver. “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”.

• Action on loss and damage. “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.”

• Renewables: ‘the exit ramp off the highway to hell’. “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”

• Deliver the money. “They must provide the support developing countries need to embark on a renewable energy and climate-resilient pathway”

• The clock is ticking. “We have agreed solutions in front of us – to respond to loss and damage, to close the emissions gap, and to deliver on finance”

• The People’s plenary. “We are all connected, humans and non-humans… everything is sacred and what was created can’t be part of a market. Nature is life”

Click below for the complete article fro, UN News.