In line with tradition, after two weeks of fraught negotiations, the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt went into 36 hours of extra time before a deal emerged on Sunday morning.
In a landmark agreement, the 197 countries present agreed to set up a fund to help developing nations cope with the loss and damage inflicted by the climate crisis. It is a very welcome move, an important building block in the world’s efforts to tackle global heating, and a crucial step towards climate justice.
The summit’s Egyptian hosts deserve credit for forcing onto the agenda an issue that was not on the radar until a few weeks before the meeting. Against the odds, rich countries that opposed the idea – including the US – were forced to face up to the damage their actions have caused, as vulnerable countries refused to leave Sharm el-Sheikh until there was a breakthrough. They duly achieved their goal after a 30-year campaign.
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