Nations reach preliminary deal on payments as climate talks grind through overtime

Sunday, November 20th, 2022

Nations reach preliminary deal on payments as climate talks grind through overtime

Stephan: It’s only a first step but it is good news. I say this because I think it finally represents an act based on the awareness that climate change is not a matter of national borders, it is planet-wide. However, the actions of a single country within its borders can, and has, had an effect on the entire planet, and this also needs to be recognized as this decision reflects. Humanity is a long way from where we need to be, but at least we have started down the right path.

*Sameh Shoukry, President of the UNFCCC COP27 climate conference, speaks on the conference’s first day on Nov. 6, 2022, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Credit: Sean Gallup / Getty*

Governments from around the world reached a preliminary deal Saturday on paying the most vulnerable nations for the damage they’re suffering from climate change, negotiators said — a move that would represent a major concession from the United States and European Union.

Despite that milestone, talks in the two-week United Nations climate summit slogged into early Sunday local time in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, two days after the negotiations were supposed to have concluded. Nearly 200 nations still need to announce a final agreement on a host of issues, including whether they will commit to a broad phase-down of coal, oil and natural gas in an attempt to prevent a catastrophic warming of the Earth.

Organizers and delegates gave no hint of when the talks might conclude.

Final drafts of the texts, seen by POLITICO, […]