COP27 approves last-ditch deal for historic climate damage fund

COP27 approves last-ditch deal for historic climate damage fund

The COP27 climate talks in Egypt, which came close to collapse in the closing stretches, ended with an early-hours deal to create a fund to pay poorer countries for the harm caused by climate change.

The agreement on loss and damage is a landmark moment in global climate politics — an acknowledgment that richer nations are responsible to the developing world for the harm caused by rising temperatures.

But the fractious summit, which took place against the background of a global energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, exposed fault lines on how the world should navigate the transition away from fossil fuels. And it did little to advance the ambitions of last year’s COP in Glasgow to rein in harmful greenhouse gas emissions, even though governments retained their commitment to try to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.