Uproar at the climate summit – groups of countries leave the room

World Climate Conference

Uproar at the climate summit – groups of countries leave the room

The world climate conference is in danger of failing. In the decisive final phase, a number of countries left the negotiating table. Can an agreement still be achieved?

At the World Climate Conference, the groups of island states and least developed countries left the negotiating room. “We are here to negotiate, but we have left the room because at the moment we don’t feel like we are being heard,” Colombia’s Environment Minister Susana Muhamad told media representatives.

A number of country representatives left a large negotiating room, as dpa reporters observed – when asked about an agreement, one representative shouted loudly: “Rejected!” The government representatives gathered for internal discussions in a room just a few steps away.

EU delegation circles said that it was assumed that the negotiations would continue. Although there is no new draft resolution yet, various draft texts are circulating, against which there is great resistance from some countries.

The central point of contention is how much financial flows to developing countries will be increased and who has to pay for it. Dozens of developing countries had vehemently demanded trillions in funding. An independent UN group of experts also comes to the conclusion that the need for external aid will be around 1,000 billion US dollars per year by 2030 – and even 1,300 billion by 2035.

It became clear from negotiating circles that instead of the $250 billion that was initially proposed as annual climate aid from industrialized countries to poorer countries, there is now $300 billion on the table.