In a Reversal, U.S. Won’t Block Climate Compensation for Poor Nations

The United States is willing to accept the creation of a fund to compensate poor, developing countries for climate damage, reversing decades of opposition and marking a major breakthrough at the heart of United Nations climate talks.

An official in the Biden administration said that the US is working to sign on to a deal. The U.S. will no longer block a fund that is needed by poor nations because of climate change.

The developing nations, mostly from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean and South Pacific, see the matter as one of justice because they did not contribute to the crisis.

Pakistan's minister for climate change said that a positive outcome is close. It's not perfect but it addresses the basic demand of developing nations.

The United States was the main obstacle to the creation of such a fund out of concern that it would face unlimited liability as the country that has pumped most greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Developing countries and some of its European allies pressured the American negotiators to change their minds late Saturday.

The United States and the European Union are still trying to get assurances that China won't be able to get money from the fund. Even though China is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, it is still eligible for climate compensation because it is a developing country. China does not want to be seen as a developed nation in the climate talks.

Every country must consent to any agreement at the UN climate talks.

This year's climate summit has been rude for the US. President Biden and his climate envoy, John Kerry, arrived in Egypt to promote the new landmark legislation that will invest $370 billion in clean energy. The assembled ministers and diplomats were told by Mr. Biden that the United States wanted to lead the world in transitioning away from fossil fuels.

The Americans were on the defensive as frustrated and angry leaders from developing countries insisted that the US do more to help those outside its borders.

Saleemul Huq is the director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development. They don't have good news when it comes to their international commitments.

Negotiating teams from nearly 200 nations clashed over several issues during the two week summit that ended Saturday. There are a lot of crises at the moment. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has wreaked havoc on global food supply and energy markets, caused inflation and spurred some countries to burn more coal and other alternatives to Russian gas, threatening to undermine climate goals.

In places like Pakistan and Nigeria, as well as in Europe and Asia, record-breaking heat has been caused by rising global temperatures. Millions of people in the Horn of Africa are at risk of famine.

At last year's climate talks in Glasgow, nations emphasized the goal of keeping global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Scientists say the risk of climate catastrophes goes beyond that threshold.

The planet has already warmed by an average of 1.1 degrees Celsius, and scientists say that countries need to cut their carbon emissions more quickly and more significantly. By the end of this century, the world is on a path to warm by between 2.1 and 3.0 degrees Celsius.

Tens of millions more people could be exposed to life threatening heat waves, water shortages and coastal flooding if a fraction of a degree of additional warming is added. Coral reefs and summer sea ice may still be present in a 1.5 degree world.

Espen Barth Eide, Norway's minister of climate and environment told the conference that one point five is not just a number. The dramatic difference between warming and ending at 1 is what he talked about. The temperature was 5 and 2 degrees.

The countries that are present here will disappear from the surface of the planet. He stated that most of the ice on the world would melt. We will no longer live in the cities we love. We have to make sure that we stick to what we were told to do in Glasgow.

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Negotiating teams close to the process said that Saudi Arabia was promoting language that glossed over the need for countries to set more ambitious goals for lowering emissions in line with the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal.

India wanted language that called forphasing down all fossil fuels, not just coal. According to people close to the negotiations, those words were not included in the draft agreement on Saturday.

The United States should go first when it comes to calling for a phase down of fossil fuels according to Xie Zhenhua. Mr. Xie said in a news conference that they shouldn't add more burden to developing countries.

Environmentalists blamed Egypt, which is in charge of guiding the talks this year, for leaving out the language about fossil fuels. Egypt has been exporting gas to Europe in order to transition from dirtier coal and oil to wind, solar and other non-polluting sources of energy.

Alden Meyer is a senior associate at E3G, a European environmental think tank.

At times, the negotiations were runcorous. Diego Pacheco Balanza criticized developed countries for failing to live up to past promises to provide $100 billion per year in climate aid by 2020 and for demanding that poor countries needed to be helped.

Mr. Pacheco Balanza said that developed countries talk a lot but don't do much. We are still waiting for a certain amount of money.

Frans Timmermans, the European Union's negotiator, said on Saturday that European countries are prepared to walk away if we don't have a result that does justice to what the world is waiting for.

The chaotic management style of the Egyptian hosts is one of the biggest obstacles to a deal this year.

The Egyptian presidency held middle-of-the-night meetings and allowed delegates only a small amount of potential text. There are technical issues with negotiations. The lack of easy access to food and water was one of the reasons for the slow progress.

One long time delegate who asked not to be identified said that he had never experienced anything like this before. The delegate said the process was disorganized and unpredictable.

Mr. Meyer said, "No matter what happens, the Egyptians get a share of the blame for this process." To identify landing zones, it's important to engage parties early. The Egyptians didn't do anything in the game. Parties have been given a few days to work magic.

Mr. Meyer said that he wasn't sure if Houdini could solve it. Let me know if you see the magician in the halls.