COP27 Averts Collapse as Historic Fund Resets Rich-Poor Balance
The deal for a loss and damage fund is an historic victory, but negotiators failed to secure commitments for more ambitious cuts on greenhouse gas emissions
At 4 a.m. on Sunday morning, climate negotiators in Egypt walked back from the abyss and struck an historic deal that resets the relationship between rich and poor countries. Approved without a single opposing voice, the agreement to create a fund to help developing nations face the devastation of climate change is a precedent-setting moment that’s been three decades in the making.
Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s climate minister, called the agreement the “ultimate test” of the COP27 climate summit, which was finally wrapped up after running well past its scheduled close on Friday. “We have struggled for 30 years on this path and today, in Sharm El-Sheikh, this journey has achieved its first positive milestone,” she said. “The establishment of a fund is not about dispensing charity, it is clearly a down payment on the longer investment in our joint futures.”