New global climate deal struck at conference in Egypt

New global climate deal struck at conference in Egypt

Government ministers and negotiators from nearly 200 countries finally secured an agreement Sunday aimed at keeping a critically important global heating target alive. The new political deal reaffirms efforts to limit global temperature rise to the crucial temperature threshold of above pre-industrial levels and the creation of a new "loss and damage" fund that would compensate poor nations that are victims of extreme weather worsened by climate change. The two-week-long COP27 climate summit took place in Egypt's Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh against a backdrop of increasing , and . Delegates struggled to build consensus on an array of issues, even as a flurry of U.N. reports published ahead of the conference just how close the planet is to irreversible climate breakdown. The scale of division between climate envoys saw talks run beyond Friday's deadline, with campaigners accusing the U.S. of playing a " " role by blocking the demands of developing countries. The final agreement was reached in the early hours of Sunday morning following tense negotiations throughout the night, with many delegates exhausted by the time the deal was announced. Some of the major sticking points included battles over whether all fossil fuels or just coal