António Guterres: “Trust between North and South has been broken” at the Climate Summit

UN Secretary-General flies directly from G20 to COP27 amid deadlock in negotiations

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has flown directly from the G20 summit in Bali to the climate summit in Egypt to see that “trust between North and South has been broken” in the talks. The COP is so bogged down that, after circulating a list of issues that should cover its final decision, the summit presidency has been unable to make the public assessment of the planned negotiations.

“24 hours before the end of the COP we are at a critical moment in the negotiations and the blame sharing game is a recipe for mutual destruction,” said Guterres, who sees as a solution “reaching a credible agreement to compensate for the damages and losses for impoverished countries.”

That part of the deal is stalled, especially because rich countries won’t let China get away from putting money now that its economy has been in prominent positions for years. It has not been a historical polluter, but it is, for more than five years, the first emitter of CO2 on the planet.

“We cannot continue to deny climate justice to those who have contributed least to the climate crisis, but suffer the most,” said the Secretary-General. “The time to talk is over,” he concluded.

He also referred to the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions a lot. “Countries must face it forcibly.” Guterres has repeated that “any hope” of being able to limit global warming to 1.5ºC goes through that reduction and “the expansion of fossil fuels is hijacking humanity.”

António Guterres also believes that Egypt must come up with a solution so that, in truth, the fund for developing states that should be operating from 2020 of 100,000 million euros per year and a clear roadmap to know how financing will be doubled so that these vulnerable countries can adapt to climate change is really provided. “The clock keeps ticking confidence eroding.”

Source: El Diario