By Megan Rowling
BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As Cyclone Biparjoy approached southern Pakistan this week, Pakistan’s top negotiator Nabeel Munir told governments at UN climate talks in Bonn that it appeared it was “teaching a lesson to elementary school “, amid disputes over the meeting’s agenda.
An agreement was reached the night before the end of two-week talks in the German city on Thursday, avoiding a diplomatic embarrassment ahead of the key COP28 summit in Dubai in December.
But the Bonn outcome has not resolved stark differences between rich countries who want to focus on a formal work program to step up emissions reductions and some developing countries who also want to address a lack of international funding to help them. .
“Here in Bonn, negotiators are playing the blame game and pointing fingers at each other’s underaction,” said Tom Evans, policy adviser in climate diplomacy and geopolitics at environmental consultancy E3G.
The “grand prize” at COP28, he noted, would be an ambitious political deal to step up climate action in response to a global review that should highlight how the world is failing to limit warming to a global target of 1.5 degrees Celsius, and is unprepared for climatic disasters.
“There is a real risk that we will end up with a lowest common denominator if the champion countries do not step in to strike a deal before COP28,” Evans warned.
As the Bonn talks wound down, climate policy experts said the reluctance of rich countries to deliver on their climate finance pledges and to discuss increased finance for poor and vulnerable countries had soured the mood in most countries. part of the issues under negotiation – and was about to extend to COP28.
As of 2020, developing countries are seeking $100 billion in funding annually to help them adopt clean energy and adapt to a hotter planet—a pledge rich nations have said they must finally deliver. year. The most recent estimate places this funding at around 83 billion in 2020.
This delay has led to a lack of confidence needed for effective policy negotiations, noted David Waskow, international climate director at the World Resources Institute (WRI).
“Progress (in Bonn) has been less than expected on almost all fronts, with one of the main culprits being money,” he said. “Developing countries are increasingly frustrated that the resources pledged to implement their climate plans are not materializing.”
The deadlock on funding means that many key issues in the mid-year talks – which were supposed to set the stage for a successful outcome at COP28 – also remain mired in disagreement and have been deferred to further workshops and pre-summit meetings. New Year’s Eve in Dubai.
These key areas of work ranged from setting goals for a global adaptation goal to make agriculture more climate-friendly to planning for a just transition to a low-carbon world.
Source: Terra
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