Concerns over final Cop27 pact after mention of loss and damage fund is dropped

‘Any thing less than establishing an Loss And Damage fund at this COP is a betrayal of the people who are fighting for humanity,’ said H.M Molwyn Joseph, of the Alliance of Small Island States

A 20-page early draft of items which may make the final Cop27 agreement has set off alarm bells for those pushing for ambitious climate action.

Less than two days before the Sharm el-Sheikh conference is due to end, Cop27’s Egyptian presidency issued a wide array of viewpoints put forward by countries over the past two weeks but which hadn’t been formally negotiated.

E3G, a climate policy think-tank, described the intial 20 pages as “sprawling and confusing”, with a wide range of possibilites on what the final Cop27 “Sharm” pact may - and may not - include.

However the document was met with immediate concern at the summit.

It contained no details on establishing a fund for loss and damage, a key demand from developing countries at Cop27 which would see rich countries compensate them financially for the disproportionate damage of climate change.

“Any thing less than establishing an Loss And Damage fund at this COP is a betrayal of the people who are fighting for humanity,” said H.M Molwyn Joseph, of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), which are facing immediate impacts from sea level rise and more extreme storms.

Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s Minister of Climate Change Adaptation, told the press briefing on Thursday that he could not go home empty-handed to his island nation which faces extreme sea level rise.

“I must go back and tell my people that we have established a Loss And Damage fund,” he said.

A call, led by India, to phase down all fossil fuels has also been dropped.

The first draft of the Cop27 final agreement is expected in the coming hours.

This article is being updated