At the official launch of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the conference must first of all reach consensus on the agenda. On Saturday, the night before the official opening, we argued late into the night as consensus on what should be on the agenda proved impossible to achieve. The discussions started at 3 in the afternoon. By 9pm, the Presidency had still not reached a consensus after several rounds of consultations. By this time, there was no food left – everywhere was closed – but luckily there was still water to drink. In the halls, the final touches were still being made to the bleachers, pavilions and delegation rooms. But even near midnight, the finishing touches on the agenda seemed a long way off. Agreeing an agenda may sound trivial, but it is the basis of discussions for the next fortnight. If critical issues are not on the agenda, they cannot be part of formal negotiations. And Saturday night there was still no agreement on one of the most critical issues to come up at this conference: loss and damage. Developing countries want to make progress on losses and damages in this cop because we are suffering losses and damages now. We are suffering from effects of the climate crisis which have a very serious impact on our people. Catastrophic floods, desperate droughts, storms that destroy our cities and villages – they are becoming more destructive and more frequent. We need help. Developed countries have so far been reluctant to provide the help we need. But this needs to be addressed and an agenda item for the Cop27 discussions will enable these negotiations to take place in Sharm el-Sheikh. One of the key issues is whether the agenda item should include the terms ‘liability’ and ‘reparation’. Developed countries want a footnote that says the ideas of liability and compensation are excluded. This goes back to Article 8 of the Paris Agreement. In paragraph 51 of the text of the decision on the Paris Agreement, it states that liability and compensation are excluded from loss and damage. But in the original treaty, the 1992 UNFCCC, they are not excluded. So we want to leave that open, to be more free in our discussions, not mentioning these exclusions on the agenda item. Developed countries will not agree. 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. It sometimes happens that there are different views on the agenda before a police officer, so this kind of delay for a consensus on an agenda has happened in the past. But already this looks like he’s going to be a tough cop.
Secret Negotiators are representatives of developing countries participating in the negotiations for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and who will participate in the Cop27 climate conference.
