Global 1.5C pledge 'is on life support'

International climate talks failed to promise new action on carbon emissions.

International climate talks failed to promise new action on carbon emissions.

Lok Sharma said hopes of limiting global warming to 1.5C were on “life support” after international climate talks failed to promise new action on carbon emissions.

Sharma, president of the previous Cop26 summit in Glasgow, led a chorus of disappointment over the omission, which threatens to overshadow a breakthrough on agreeing a fund for vulnerable regions.

Countries on the front line of climate-linked disasters, such as Pakistan with its recent floods, welcomed the agreement of a “loss and damage” fund at the Cop27 conference yesterday (Sunday). But the deal struck by 196 nations after a fortnight of talks in Egypt failed to include stronger commitments to meeting the 1.5C climate goal, which appears increasingly out of reach.

Internally displaced people use tractor trolley to wade across a flooded street in Dadu district of Sindh province, Pakistan. Photo by Asif Hassan.

The phasing out of all fossil fuels was dropped and a tacit acceptance of gas use was included as delegates reached a deal after running into extra time.

Sharma bemoaned the lack of follow-through on last year’s pledge to phase down coal and the absence of a promise for global emissions to peak before 2025, which scientists say is necessary. The former cabinet minister said the deal’s language on shifting to renewable energy had been “weakened in the final minutes”. He criticised countries for failing to live up to a pledge to issue new emissions plans.

Frans Timmermans, the European Commission vice-president, said countries fell short, blaming those “afraid of the transition ahead”. He added: “We should have done much more.”

“We should have done much more.” Frans Timmermans, the European Commission vice-president. Photo: Getty.

Laurence Tubiana, a former French diplomat and an architect of the 2015 Paris agreement, said the “fossil lobby’s fingerprints were everywhere” in the final deal.

John Kerry, the US climate envoy who had to conduct the final hours of negotiations by phone after testing positive for Covid-19, said he would continue pressing countries, including China, for better emissions plans.

Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, said “our planet is still in the emergency room” as he called for an end to “our addiction to fossil fuels”.

"Our planet is still in the emergency room." Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general.

Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at Reading University, said the conference shortcomings would come back to haunt nations. “We will all regret not acting sooner on reducing emissions,” he said.

“We are already feeling the consequences of previous delays through extreme weather events.”

Nonetheless, delegates at Sharm el-Sheikh applauded when the loss and damage fund was agreed. Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s climate minister, said delegates had “responded to the voices of the vulnerable, the damaged and the lost of the whole world.”

Pete Betts, the former lead EU climate negotiator, said the fund was a “big win” for vulnerable countries. A commitment to the fund, to begin after the conference next year in Abu Dhabi, was seen as vital to restoring trust between rich and poor countries.

Molwyn Joseph, the environment minister for Antigua and Barbuda, said: “The international community has restored global faith in this critical process that is dedicated to ensuring no one is left behind.” The EU helped break the deadlocked talks on Thursday by supporting a fund, on the implicit condition China contributed and nations bolstered their emissions plans.

Betts said: “It is very significant that the EU put pressure on China to contribute because that has to be the right thing. They [China] can’t exempt themselves from this.” The final agreement, however, is vague enough that China is not committed to paying into the fund.