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Revealed: How rich and at-risk nations fought over science of climate impacts
(Climate Home News, 28 Feb 2022) Negotiations over how to summarise the science of climate impacts for the latest UN bombshell report were dogged by tense disagreements between rich polluters and at-risk nations, Climate Home News can reveal.
Adaptation finance, nature-based solutions and solar geoengineering were among the most contentious topics as online talks at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ran into overtime on Saturday.
Sources monitoring the two-week discussions, which are closed to media, said that a group of developed nations including the US, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Norway pushed for key phrases and figures to be removed from the summary for policymakers (SPM).
These include the US seeking to replace the mention of adaptation finance with “investment” and pushing for greater emphasis on the role of the private funds. The government representative objected to putting a percentage range on the amount of global tracked climate finance that had gone to adaptation. Scientists had expressed “high confidence” in the proposed 4-8% range, which came from analysis by the Climate Policy Initiative.
Developing countries, led by India, reportedly stood their ground and the term “finance for adaptation” appears in the final SPM, albeit without concrete figures.
Climate Home News, 28 Feb 2022: Revealed: How rich and at-risk nations fought over science of climate impacts
