“Should young people take your place?”

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  Helen Ekker

  Climate and Energy editor

“If you were all young like me, wouldn’t you have already agreed to do whatever it takes to save our planet?” A ten-year-old girl from Ghana spoke today at the climate summit in Egypt. “Should young people take your place? Maybe only youth delegations should go to the next UN climate summit.”

After his speech, Nakeeyat Dramani Sam received a standing ovation. But then reality set in again: negotiations at the final stage of the climate conference are at a standstill. There is disagreement on two issues: the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the creation of a possible global compensation fund for countries vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

It is not yet clear whether the ideas presented in these days can count on the support of the whole world. The US, the EU, Australia, New Zealand and the UK presented a final proposal tonight. China is eagerly awaiting a response.

It is important to the EU that not all countries can receive money from such a compensation fund. For example, China is still formally considered a developing country, but in practice, according to the EU, it has long since ceased to be so. The country has experienced tremendous economic growth and today emits more CO2 than any other country.

Even the United States has so far had great difficulty establishing such a fund. The US contribution to previous forms of climate finance is very modest. The promise of rich countries in 2009 to make 100 billion available a year starting in 2020 has not been kept. This harms developing countries and has damaged trust between rich and poor countries.

This could also explain the persistence of vulnerable countries now that a climate damage fund is formally on the agenda of a climate conference for the first time. They have supported it for years, but so far the richest countries have held back. It seems that the latter have now been overwhelmed by the dynamism of the poorest part of the world. And it also appears that broader agreements on up to 1.5 degrees of warming can only be reached if an agreement is also reached on a compensation fund.

“We want the United States to show sympathy and empathy for people who are already suffering from the climate crisis,” said Harjeet Singh of the Climate Action Network, an umbrella organization of non-governmental organizations working on climate change around the world. “If the loss and damage fund is not set up now, we will call this climate summit a failure.”

The environment minister of Antigua and Barbuda, an island nation in the Caribbean Sea, says some progress has been made today. There is progress in the climate damage debate, according to Minister Molwyn Joseph, who speaks on behalf of the whole group of small island states. But not all sides agree, he said. “It will take all night to solve all the problems.”

Today was the last official day of the Sharm el-Sheikh climate summit. But this morning it became clear that negotiations will continue over the weekend. For most scientists, civil servants and companies, it was the last day. Tens of thousands of people have left the summit and are on their way home. Climate activists, far fewer at this summit than at other climate conferences, are also packing their bags.

Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate calls on negotiators to help vulnerable countries. “We really need to set up a loss and damage financing structure,” she said. You have also called for the slow phasing out of the use of fossil fuels. She believes continued investment in oil and gas must stop. “We can’t get justice if we make new investments in fossil fuel infrastructure.”

Egypt, host country and president of the summit, will have to do everything to make all the countries of the world point their noses in the same direction this weekend.