The Egyptian hosts of the Cop 27 summit accused governments meeting for climate talks of making positive commitments in public, but then withdrawing them in the negotiating rooms.
Wael Aboulmagd, the Egyptian diplomat in charge of running the negotiations at the Cop27 UN climate summit, said: “Political statements and pledges are made in front of the cameras, but in the negotiating rooms it’s back to the adversarial approach. These [publicly positive positions] will not be of value until translated into the negotiating rooms, and that has not been the case so far.”
Countries have frustrated Egypt by making positive public statements that don’t reflect the roadblocks that have appeared in negotiations on climate finance, loss and damage, and greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
“We can’t continue on this adversarial path,” Aboulmagd said. “The separation between what is happening in the public sphere and what is happening in the negotiating rooms cannot continue. We all need to show a spirit of compromise.”
The negotiations will begin on Monday with at least 120 heads of state and government meeting for two days of intensive discussions to determine which positions their negotiators will take over the next two weeks.
Photo: Wael Aboulmagd, the Egyptian diplomat in charge of running COP27 conference | Kiara Worth
