He urged countries heading into the final day of the Cop27 UN climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh to find common ground. “There has clearly been, as in the past, a breakdown of trust between North and South, and between developed and emerging economies,” he said. “This is no time for finger-wagging. The blame game is a recipe for mutually assured destruction.” Guterres appeared on Thursday alongside Egypt’s foreign minister and chairman of the talks, Sameh Shoukry, who gave a gloomy assessment of the state of the talks, with just one full day of formal negotiations remaining. “It is obviously clear that at this late stage of the Cop27 process, there are still some issues on which there is no progress, with the persistent divergent views between the parties,” Soukry said. There are four main concerns: countries’ plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels; how to help poor countries adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis; financing poor countries to reduce emissions and adapt to extreme weather events; and loss and damage, which covers ways to help countries hit by its worst disasters climate disaster. In each of these, Shoukry listed serious failures. “The mitigation work programme [on cutting emissions] has not yet reached the desired result. Adjustment is still delayed due to procedural issues. Ambitious results for funding have yet to materialize. And when it comes to losses and damages, the parties avoid making the tough political decisions,” he said. Guterres – who in an interview with the Guardian ahead of Cop27 had warned that without a “historic pact” between rich and poor nations, “we are doomed” – appealed to governments. “Send a clear message that the voices of those on the front lines of the crisis are finally being heard,” he said. “Reflect the urgency, scale and enormity of the challenge facing so many developing countries. We cannot continue to deny climate justice to those who have contributed least to the climate crisis and are most affected.” The fortnight’s talks still have a day to go before the official deadline on Friday evening, but are almost certain to continue into the weekend. Earlier in the day, the Egyptian presidency released an early draft of a possible “cover text”, intended to list key outcomes of the talks. The 20-page document contained resolutions on issues ranging from food and agriculture to youth representation. On the substantive issues, however, there were gaps, filled with “placeholder” text that indicated no deal was close. 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 reflects the lack of progress made in reconciling rich and poor nations on how to pay for rebuilding countries devastated by climate collapse, known in the talks as loss and damage. Many poor nations want a new financing facility that will quickly collect and distribute cash to affected areas. Rich countries, however, say they are willing to discuss ways to finance damages and losses, but are not convinced that a whole new financing facility is needed, as there are already several global climate finance institutions, with varying degrees of success. Sir Molwyn Joseph, government minister in Antigua and Barbuda and chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States, said: “They [developed countries] they say they understand our conditions. If they understand our conditions, why should they be reluctant [to set up a fund]?” He said poor countries would lose confidence in the UN talks. “There must be a mechanism [for funding loss and damage]. Either you call it a fund or a facility,” he said. “If you don’t do that it will create a feeling of betrayal.” The debate on the draft text was due to continue until Thursday evening. One issue was whether to include language recognizing that the world must “phase out all fossil fuels.” The push, led by India and civil society groups, has gained momentum over the fortnight, garnering support from the US, EU and UK. But it is opposed by Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. The draft text released on Thursday by the Cop27 presidency instead included a reference only to the phasing out of coal power, which was first agreed at Cop26 in Glasgow last year. There were also concerns that the wording for the 1.5C target was too weak. The UK chairman of last year’s summit, Alok Sharma, led a small delegation to the Egyptian presidency to urge a stronger commitment to keep temperatures within the 1.5C limit, beyond which the effects of the climate crisis are likely to become destructive and in many cases irreversible. “Keeping 1.5 C alive” was the key outcome of the Glasgow talks. A developing country negotiator told the Guardian of his concerns about the Egyptian presidency’s handling of the process of drafting a cover text. “I really don’t know if we’re going to get a proper final text,” they said. “It will really depend on how far countries are willing to take things. Some might say that unless there is an agreement on loss and damage, there is no result.’ Rebecca Newsom, head of policy at Greenpeace UK, said: “Success at Cop27 is now a test of political will. It is a test of whether world leaders will stand up for their citizens, for justice and the environment we all depend on – or whether they will allow fossil fuel lobbyists and vested interests to prevail.”
