UN climate meet met with mixed reactions, hopes for next meet despite disappointment

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - The UN's latest round of climate talks ended Sunday after a demanding 14 days of negotiations that drew both praise and criticism, while efforts are set to continue to avert the worst of the worldwide environmental crisis.

Hoping to see a breakthrough in addressing climate change at COP27, 112 heads of state and over 46,000 delegates, including ministers, scientists, policymakers, civil society representatives, international organizations, activists, and young people, gathered in Egypt's seaside city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Last-minute negotiations that dragged on for two days past the event's scheduled end date on Friday yielded a long-awaited deal to establish a "loss and damage" fund to help pay for climate-related damage in vulnerable countries.

Despite that "essential" agreement, COP27's outcome left many frustrated as the world's major carbon emitters failed to commit to phasing down fossil fuel use or make new pledges on climate mitigation.

While the sides kept the key Paris climate goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, this was also tempered by the absence of a clear decision on how to reduce carbon emissions.

Many groups and experts have questioned how big an impact loss and damage funding can have if countries fail to reduce and eventually phase out carbon-emitting coal, oil, and natural gas -- the main sources of climate-related harm -- from their energy sector since "more fossil fuels mean more loss and damage."

A recent UN report that was published a month before COP27 warned that countries were "failing to meet their climate pledges, and warming is likely to far exceed the initial 1.5-degree target set in 2015."

However, with the "last minute" achievement on loss and damage funding, the world will arrive with "a glimmer of hope" for the 28th session of the Conference of Parties (COP28) next year, set to be held in the Emirati city of Dubai.

Here are some reactions from international organizations, politicians, and organizations on the climate talks' outcome.

- Planet 'still in emergency room'

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres acknowledged the positive step that was the loss and damage funding accord but said it would not be the answer to the climate crisis and that the world still needed "a giant leap."

"Our planet is still in the emergency room. We need to drastically reduce emissions now, and this is an issue this COP did not address," he said.

Csaba Korosi, president of the UN General Assembly, welcomed the deal and congratulated the negotiators during the talks.

He went on to say that an integrated "climate-water-food policy" would be the only way to secure a future for a global population of 8 billion.

"Lives will continue to be lost until the fossil fuel addiction is taken care of," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said for his part.

Describing the progress made in the climate talks as a "small step forward," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, said much more would be needed for the planet.

"We have treated some of the symptoms but not cured the patient from its fever," she added.

Another voice from the bloc, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, also mentioned the need for more ambitious action, in particular, to keep the 1.5 C goal alive. "We need to step up to fight climate change and to deliver a successful COP."

- Survival at stake

"I welcome the progress made at COP27, but there can be no time for complacency," British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said after the conclusion of the talks, adding that the 1.5 C commitment was vital: "More must be done."

French President Emmanuel Macron pointed to the need for "a new financial pact" with the most vulnerable countries and said he would work on this matter with a view to a summit in Paris before the next COP.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez made his remarks just a day before COP27 ended and said that a step back from COP26, held last year in Glasgow, would be "unacceptable."

"It's time to be on the right side of history," he said, adding that survival is "at stake."

Underlining the difficulty of the climate negotiations, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the outcome gave rise to both hope and frustration.

"The world is losing valuable time to move towards 1.5 degrees," she warned.

Ani Dasgupta, the president of the non-profit World Resource Institute, said that although the positive outcome on loss and damage funding was an important step towards rebuilding trust with vulnerable nations, "developing countries are leaving Egypt without clear assurances about how the loss and damage fund will be overseen."

He also stressed that the loss and damage fund's "transitional committee" must set strong guidelines and address the urgent needs and concerns of vulnerable nations when it convenes at next year's COP28 to recommend courses of action for countries to adopt on the details of the fund.

- No chance without binding commitments

Greenpeace reacted to the funding agreement by saying that the "victory for people power on loss and damage must be translated into renewed action to expose climate action blockers, push for bolder policies to end our dependence on fossil fuels."

Just Stop Oil, a group that has made headlines in recent weeks for protests at museums and art galleries, claimed that the talks were dominated "by oil and gas lobbyists".

"This is what we think about an entire political class selling us out for fossil fuels when we know it means death," said the group, sharing a video of activists spraypainting luxury car showrooms in London bright orange last month.

Rebecca Byrnes, deputy director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said that failing to commit to phasing out fossil fuels once again showed why the world needed a binding treaty to "secure a rapid global just transition from fossil fuels."

On the lack of progress on the reduction of carbon emissions, 19-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who skipped the summit over "greenwashing," also mentioned the importance of finding deals.

"Without any binding commitments to rapidly and immediately reduce greenhouse gases, the world stands no chance to deliver on the 1,5°C limit, and by doing so minimizing risks of uprooting the life supporting systems we all depend on and endangering countless human lives."