loss and damageImage source, Getty Images

Nations are divided over how to help poor countries deal with the effects of climate change as the UN climate talks head to a conclusion on Friday.

The idea of phasing down the use of fossil fuels to limit the rise in temperatures is being debated at the COP 27 talks.

After two weeks of negotiations, the Egyptians are trying to broker an agreement.

The talks are likely to get so divided that they will overrun into the weekend.

There is a sense of desperation in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh as teams attempt to reach an agreement.

A draft document has been presented by the Egyptian presidency.

There are some areas of disagreement.

A new fund is needed to help countries deal with the effects of climate change.

The issue of loss and damage is part of the UN talks. Rich countries have resisted this discussion for 30 years because they fear that they will have to pay for it for the rest of their lives.

The issue of the losses and damages due to rising temperatures has finally made it onto the negotiating agenda, thanks to the impacts of flooding in Pakistan, Nigeria and other places.

Seve Paeniu is the minister for finance in the small island nation of Tuvalu.

He said that people were being rationed to two or three buckets of water per day.

The rising seas are threatening the nation's future at the same time as the island is being hit hard by the dry weather.

There is a need for a financing facility for developing countries in Egypt. The US isn't in favor of something. Along with the EU, they prefer amosaic of financial arrangements.

The conversations are not easy. There are small signals of light. The EU will give 100m to help countries that have been damaged. The olive branch has been extended by developing countries.

LulaImage source, Getty Images
Image caption, Brazil's president elect was the superstar of the COP

Sherry Rehman, Pakistan's climate minister who chairs an important group of emerging economies at these talks, said that countries that are worried about liability and judicial proceedings can be helped.

The issue of coal almost caused the final discussions at COP26 to fall apart.

The use of the mostpolluting fossil fuel was being phased out by richer countries.

India and China didn't.

The diplomats were trying to find a compromise.

They chose tophasing down instead ofphasing out.

India and a number of other countries want to add oil and gas to the phrase.

The Glasgow formula was restated in the draft document.

COpImage source, Getty Images

Many countries were disappointed and are pushing for a wider range of fuels to be included.

"This is supposed to be an implementationCOP and that means when it comes to climate change, addressing the transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy," said Catherine Abreu from theDestination Zero campaign group.

They should be having that debate at the global level.

The concept was on life support after Glasgow according to the minister in charge of the talks.

A rise of 1.5C is viewed by scientists as the threshold to very dangerous levels of warming, but there has been concern that the commitment to the idea would be watered down, especially as India and China were concerned it was no longer scientifically feasible.

The Paris agreement states that the world should aim to keep the rise in global temperature "well below" 2C and to make best efforts to keep it under 1.5C.

As he returned to the talks, the UN Secretary General said he saw the will to keep the goal.

We need to make sure that commitment is visible in the outcome of the meeting.

The UN climate process is hampered by the lack of concrete areas of co-operation between the world's two biggest emitters.

XiImage source, Getty Images
Image caption, The meeting between the US and Chinese presidents may aid climate talks

Loss and damage are examples of climate finance. India, China and Brazil did not pay in the past.

The US and EU want to increase the number of countries that contribute.

By the end of this decade, China will overtake the US in terms of cumulative emissions, and is the world's second largest economy, and yet in UN terms it still counts as a developing country.

The US has failed to deliver climate finance and has a responsibility to support the developing world.

A whole new solution space opens up if China and the US can come to an agreement.

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  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
  • Climate change