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Here's what you need to know about the agreement:WHAT IS 'LOSS AND DAMAGE'? In U.N. climate talks, "loss and damage" refers to costs being incurred from climate-fuelled weather extremes or impacts, like rising sea levels. Loss and damage funding is different, specifically covering the cost of damage that countries cannot avoid or adapt to. A few governments have made relatively small but symbolic funding commitments for loss and damage: Denmark, Belgium, Germany and Scotland, plus the EU. Some existing U.N. and development bank funding does help states facing loss and damage, though it is not officially earmarked for that goal.

[1/5] A general view of the entrance to the Sharm El-Sheikh International Convention Centre grounds, during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 19, 2022. Kunal Satyarthi, a negotiator for India, said he thought the loss and damage deal would "certainly" pass, and thanked other countries for their flexibility. Norway's climate minister, Espen Barth Eide, meanwhile, said his country was happy with the agreement to create a loss and damage fund. But the possible breakthrough on loss and damage was significant, and "I don't think that should be lost in the mix," he said. For daily comprehensive coverage on COP27 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter here.

[1/3] Egyptian Foreign Minister and Egypt's COP27 President Sameh Shoukry attends an informal stocktaking session during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 18, 2022. But with several other sticking points dogging this year's U.N. climate talks, host country Egypt said a final deal was still not expected before the weekend. But it was unclear Friday if all of those countries would accept the EU's offer of a fund to aid only "the most vulnerable countries", rather than all developing countries as they had requested. On Friday morning, the U.N. climate agency published a first official draft of the final summit deal. Some countries, including the EU and Britain, have pushed for the overall deal in Egypt to lock in country commitments for more ambitious climate action.

☆ What to watch on Friday at COP27
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The official events at the COP27 climate talks are winding down ahead of the scheduled end date on Friday, but the negotiations for a final deal are dragging on. Countries remain deeply divided over many important issues, with the talks threatening to extend into the weekend. On Friday, watch for glimmers of agreement on sticking points, which include funding for countries being ravaged by climate impacts and how much scrutiny countries should face in their domestic actions for delivering on climate targets. Meanwhile, negotiators working on a separate track to nail down details around global carbon offset trading may announce incremental progress made so far. For daily comprehensive coverage on COP27 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter hereReporting by Katy Daigle; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ EU proposes midway path on climate damage fund to unblock COP27 talks
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The EU proposal would be to set up a special fund for covering loss and damage in the most vulnerable countries - but funded from a "broad donor base". "What we would propose is to establish a loss and damage response fund for the most vulnerable countries," EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans told the COP27 summit. The Alliance of Small Island States and the G77 club of 134 developing countries, who have both pushed for a new fund at COP27, were consulting on their response to the EU proposal. Pakistan's ambassador to South Korea, Nabeel Munir, said Timmermans' proposal was "positive news" but that some divisions remained. The EU offer is at odds with a proposal by developing countries and China that called for all developing countries to have access to the fund.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The U.N. climate agency published a first draft on Thursday of a hoped-for final agreement from the COP27 climate summit, repeating many of last year's goals while leaving contentious issues still to be resolved. The draft repeats the goal from last year's Glasgow Climate Pact "to accelerate measures towards the phase down of unabated coal power and phase out and rationalize inefficient fossil fuel subsidies." The text does not include details for launching such a fund - a key demand from the most climate vulnerable countries, such as island nations. Climate policy experts said there was deep concern about the talks reaching consensus on many key issues. The document is based on requests that delegates from nearly 200 countries have sought to be included in the final deal.

"There's now a big push to get nature into sovereign debt markets," said Simon Zadek, executive director at NatureFinance, which advises governments on debt-for-nature swaps and other types of climate-focused finance. At that level, it would be the biggest debt-for-nature swap struck to date. The combined value of swap deals to date is $3.7 billion, according to the data. Securing the buy-in of development banks is usually key for the economics of a deal. The WWF has projects in Central and South America where they are monitoring deforestation by tracking jaguars, said Brenes, who has worked on debt-for-nature swaps for the last 25 years.

[1/5] Climate activists take part in a protest during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 16, 2022. "There's still a lot of gaps in the texts," said a spokesperson for Britain's COP26 Presidency, which hosted last year's climate summit in Glasgow. EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans said the first draft left a lot to be desired. TEMPERATURE TARGETOn limiting the global temperature rise, the document mirrors language included in last year's COP26 agreement. Temperatures have already increased by 1.1C, and are projected to blow past 1.5C without swift and deep cuts to emissions within this decade.

Brazil's 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro set the stage for all major international environmental agreements since, with the signing of U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is aimed at preventing extreme climate change and was the foundation of the COP meetings. He said Lula would turn around Brazil's environmental policies "180 degrees" from those of Bolsonaro. Lula won office last month over Bolsonaro, who appointed climate skeptics as ministers and saw deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest spike to a 15-year high. On Thursday, Lula will meet with civil society and indigenous groups, as well as United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

A G20 declaration on Wednesday said "we will play our part fully in implementing" last year's Glasgow Climate Pact, under which countries pledged to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial times. "As things stand, the Glasgow Climate Pact is broken, but the G20 have the opportunity to fix it." MISSED OPPORTUNITYThe G20 declaration recognised the need to phase down use of unabated coal and phase out "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies. Avinash Persaud, special envoy on climate finance to Prime Minister Mia Motley of Barbados, meanwhile, told Reuters the G20 declaration missed the mark on finance. "Unfunded ambition gets us nowhere fast," Persaud said, adding he wanted G20 countries to unlock more lending from multilateral development banks they control to help climate-vulnerable countries.

An EU official said Lula would also meet on Wednesday with EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans. Last month, Lula defeated right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who oversaw mounting destruction of the Amazon rainforest and refused to host the 2019 climate summit originally planned for Brazil. His team also worked to secure a jungle conservation alliance announced on Monday between the three largest rainforest nations - Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. They said other countries know Brazil will soon have a Lula government that has promised to take the issue more seriously than Bolsonaro, a climate change sceptic. Colombia's Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said Lula's election would allow renewed regional cooperation among Amazon rainforest nations to tackle deforestation, a major contributor to climate change.

Lula's team also worked to secure a jungle conservation alliance announced on Monday between the three largest rainforest nations - Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. That includes pushing for rich nations with high greenhouse gas emissions to pay poor nations for historic damage the climate. Colombia's Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said Lula's election would allow for renewed regional cooperation among Amazon rainforest nations to tackle deforestation, a major contributor to climate change. Lula environmental advisor Izabella Teixeira said she felt the mood about Brazil has shifted at COP27 from previous summits. "When I come to COP and meet people after the election of President Lula, there is hope," she said.

The failure by rich nations to deliver in full on a past pledge to deliver $100 billion in annual climate finance to developing countries has rankled in recent years of climate talks. "We cannot afford a further erosion of trust between the developed and developing countries," said Samoa's Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa. The burning of fossil fuels is the main cause of climate change, but coal, gas and oil were notably absent in the draft deal. The draft COP27 text did not hint at which route the final deal will take on this issue. "We cannot lose 1.5 at this COP," said Alok Sharma, president of last year's U.N. climate summit, COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland.

☆ Climate justice gets harder as world population passes 8 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

These are also among the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts, and most in need of climate finance. "A SIGN OF HUMAN SUCCESS"Globally, the 8 billion population milestone represents 1 billion people added to the planet in just the last 11 years. Even while the global population reaches ever-new highs, demographers note that the growth rate has fallen steadily to less than 1% per year. "A big part of this story is that this era of rapid population growth that the world has known for centuries is coming to an end," Wilmoth said. Rapid population growth combined with climate change is likely to cause mass migration and conflict in coming decades, experts said.

☆ Analysis: In final week of COP27 climate talks, success hinges on 'loss and damage'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/2] People pass in front of a wall lit with the sign of COP27 as the COP27 climate summit takes place, at the Green Zone in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt November 10, 2022. Some negotiators and observers warn that failure to agree on such "loss and damage" funding could sour the U.N. talks and thwart other deals. At last year's U.N. climate summit all countries agreed to set tougher climate targets this year to keep average global temperature rises to the 1.5C limit that scientists say would avoid global warming’s worst impacts. A relaunch of U.S.-China collaboration on climate change, which China halted earlier this year, could help boost negotiations at COP27. Germany and a group of climate-vulnerable countries launched a "Global Shield" scheme on Monday to attempt to improve insurance for climate disaster-prone countries.

☆ Climate disasters put plight of displaced in COP27 focus
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

There are some 22 million people like Hassan displaced every year in climate-fueled disasters, according to the U.N. International Organization for Migration (IOM). And with climate change fueling increasingly extreme weather worldwide, the number displaced is expected to grow to about 143 million by mid-century. Given the growing need, developing countries at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt this month are demanding that wealthy nations offer more in the way of help. "Each government impacted by climate change migrants can raise the subject" at the U.N. summit, said Caroline Dumas, the IOM's special envoy for migration and climate action. "I'm a refugee, former refugee," said Emtithal Mahmoud, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.

Those pledges include making steep cuts in climate-warming emissions within this decade and contributing to hundreds of billions of dollars needed each year by developing nations already struggling to cope with the impacts of climate change. That could also complicate the talks among government ministers on the so-called cover decisions - which make up the core political deal from the two-week summit. "We haven't seen huge solidarity between the developed and developing countries" but instead "disappointing commitments and action this year, which has dented trust." Developing nations have demanded that COP27 agree to launch a special fund to address loss and damage. The United States and other rich nations are wary of this idea, saying these rapid funds are better channeled through existing programs.

For more than 70 days this summer, a marine heatwave cooked the waters of the western Mediterranean. "We've been witnessing marine heatwaves during the last 20 years," said Garrabou, who's also coordinator of the T-MEDNet marine monitoring network. A 2016 marine heatwave along Chile's southern coast caused huge algae blooms that wiped out fish farms and cost the aquaculture industry some $800 million, said scientist Kathryn Smith with the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. As the world warms, marine heatwaves are expected to become more frequent, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Though economists have yet to account fully for the impacts of marine heatwaves, recent experience has many concerned.

☆ What to watch this weekend at COP27 in Egypt
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 12 (Reuters) - After a full week of speeches from world leaders, presentations by scientists and closed-door negotiations, the U.N. climate conference was poised for a weekend break. On Saturday, delegations will be invited to weigh in on what they want to include in a final deal - in the first of several open discussions to be held by the Egyptian COP27 presidency. Those talks are expected to intensify through next week until the conference concludes on Nov. 18, as delegates jockey for their priorities to be included in the closing declaration. Saturday could also see more announcements made on agriculture, land use and food security - coinciding with the conference theme for the day. Reporting by Katy Daigle; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden addressed the COP27 climate conference in Egypt on Friday, saying the global climate crisis posed an existential threat to the planet and promising that the United States was doing its part to combat it. "The climate crisis is about human security, economic security, environmental security, national security, and the very life of the planet," Biden said, before outlining steps the United States, the world’s second-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, was taking. It came even as a slew of crises - from a land war in Europe to rampant inflation - distract international focus. "Against this backdrop, it's more urgent than ever that we double down on our climate commitments. Upon arrival, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told U.S. President Joe Biden that Egypt has launched a national strategy for human rights and is keen to develop in that regard.

☆ Pakistan at COP27 demands climate aid, says 'dystopia' already here
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Valerie Volcovici | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Pakistan will not be satisfied unless U.N. climate summit negotiators unlock emergency cash for the country to rebuild after this year's devastating floods, its climate minister said Thursday. "The dystopia has already come to our doorstep," the country's climate minister, Sherry Rehman, told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the COP27 summit in Egypt. Pakistan is playing a high-profile role at the COP27 summit in Egypt this year, serving as one of two co-chairs invited by conference host Egypt, with the other being Norway. Pakistan also represents the G77 umbrella group of developing countries, pushing for a doubling in finance to help poor nations adapt to climate impacts. "There is a recognition [at COP27] that we are facing a new climate normal for the world," she said.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden told the COP27 climate conference in Egypt on Friday that global warming posed an existential threat to the planet and promised the United States would meet its targets for fighting it. "The climate crisis is about human security, economic security, environmental security, national security, and the very life of the planet," Biden told a crowded room of delegates at the U.N. summit in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. Biden said global crises, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, were not an excuse to lower climate ambition. U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a speech at COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 11, 2022. "It's radio silence on loss and damage finance," Singh said, calling Biden "out of touch with the reality of the climate crisis."

☆ COP27: U.N. to hunt sources of climate-warming methane from space
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Richard Valdmanis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The system, dubbed MARS or Methane Alert and Response System, will build on a pledge signed by 119 countries since last year to cut methane emissions by 30% this decade, a goal scientists say is crucial to averting extreme climate change. "The Methane Alert and Response System is a big step in helping governments and companies deliver on this important, short-term climate goal," Inger Andersen, executive eirector of the U.N. "Reducing methane emissions can make a big and rapid difference, as this gas leaves the atmosphere far quicker than carbon dioxide." UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory will then share information about the leak with whoever is responsible in the hope they will find the cause of the leak and repair it. U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry, who helped spearhead the Global Methane Pledge to cut methane emissions last year, called the new system "critical" to climate efforts.

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - African nations must be allowed to develop their fossil fuel resources to help lift their pepole out of poverty, governments said at the COP27 talks in Egypt, which welcomed leaders of oil and gas companies sidelined at previous talks. African nations said wealthy countries had failed to deliver promised funding that would help them to expand clean energy instead of exploiting their fossil fuel resources. Some 636 fossil fuel lobbyists were registered to attend COP27, another report from a group of organisations that analysed the U.N.'s provisional list of attendees found. That's 100 lobbyists more than attended the Glasgow COP26 summit last year, the group said, lamenting what it described as "rise in the influence of the fossil fuel industry". The analysis also counted delegation members acting on behalf of their country's fossil fuel industry.

"We can now show that a meaningful pipeline of investible opportunities does exist across the economies that need finance most," Mahmoud Mohieldin, one of the U.N. appointed experts, known as U.N. After a year of meetings with stakeholders around the world, they released the initial list so that banks and others can assess the projects. "We now need a creative collaboration between project developers and public, private and concessionary finance, to unlock this investment potential and turn assets into flows," said Mohieldin, High-Level Champion for COP27. For daily comprehensive coverage on COP27 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Reporting by Simon Jessop and Kate Abnett; Editing by Katy Daigle and Frank Jack DanielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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