SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — Climate protestors Wednesday pushed for the 1.5-degree Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) limit on global warming to remain part of climate talks.
“Our demands to the negotiators for the next 48 hours as people from the Pacific and as frontliners in climate change is simple. We cannot have 1.5 degrees Celsius watered down,” Fijian climate activist Vivania Tatawaqa told The Associated Press. Scientists agree that limiting warming to just 1.5 degrees will save the planet from the worst effects of climate change.
Several groups protested Wednesday within the venue’s ‘Blue Zone’ where access is limited to conference participants. Earlier in the day dozens of health professionals demonstrated to highlight the impact weather events exacerbated by climate change have on health.
“We are here to advocate for the climate crisis and make sure everyone understands that it’s also a health crisis,” medical professional Poorvaprabha Patil said. “Every time you have a flood and check out the communities, you will see a rise of infectious diseases.”
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS:
— Ministers make push to get climate talks over the line
— As climate change progresses, trees in cities struggle
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The European Union climate chief said there is still “a long way to go” in the ongoing negotiations at the United Nations conference on climate change taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt this year.
Frans Timmermans said he remains “hopeful” that they can achieve “good conclusions” at the conference, which ends Friday.
Asked about the issue of compensation for vulnerable nations suffering the impacts of climate change, known as loss and damage, which is one of the main topics of this year’s summit, Timmermans said: “We’re all willing to find some substantial steps forward, but we’re not there yet.”
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A senior European Union official said they were still establishing the facts about a missile that fell in NATO-member Poland, killing two people. It remains unclear who fired it, though U.S. President Joe Biden said it was “unlikely” it was fired from Russia.
EU climate chief Frans Timmermans said Wednesday that the bloc stands beside Poland which is also an EU member.
“We are in full solidarity with Poland and the Polish people. They are an important part of NATO and of the European Union,” Timmermans told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the United Nations climate conference in Egypt’s seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
“We stand as one in this, and I hope we can get clarity of what actually happened very soon,” he said.
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Climate envoy John Kerry said the U.S. is “fully engaged” in talks with China at the U.N. climate summit underway in Egypt.
Kerry met with China’s top climate official Xie Zhenhua Tuesday, a hint of improving relations seen as vital for substantial progress against global warming. Beijing put talks on hold three months ago in retaliation for U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.
Asked what the outcome of the summit may be, Kerry replied: “We’ll have to see, it’s a late start.”
Speaking at an event to mark the conference’s themed day on biodiversity, Kerry confirmed he had also met with Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Tuesday.
Kerry said he “was really encouraged by the ways in which he talked about once and for all getting it right, pulling people together in order to preserve the Amazon.”
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A lawmaker with the German Green party has called for establishing a legal structure to force polluters to pay for the destruction caused by climate change in vulnerable nations.
Speaking at an event at the U.N. climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, Michael Bloss pointed to the devastating flooding in Pakistan this summer, which put one third of the country’s population underwater and caused an estimated $40 billion in damage.
The floods “are directly caused by the climate crisis,” he said, adding that the the world’s biggest emitters “are responsible for losses and damages.”
Bloss criticized European governments for weakening efforts to establish a loss and damage fund which he said has “great support” in the European parliament.
The issue of compensation was once considered a taboo, because rich countries were concerned that they might find themselves paying vast sums. Intense pressure from developing countries forced the issue of “loss and damage” onto the formal agenda at the talks for the first time this year.
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