In Climate Deal Draft, India's Call For Phasing Down Fossil Fuels Ignored

A first formal draft of the UN climate summit deal in Egypt was published on Friday, yet again leaving out India's call for phase down of all fossil fuels and without any proposal on loss and damage funding.

It reaffirmed that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius requires rapid and deep emission cuts.

Loss and damage refer to the consequences of climate change that go beyond what people can adapt to, or when options exist but a community doesn't have the resources to access or utilise them.

Financing or a new fund for addressing loss and damage -- for example money needed for relocating people displaced by floods -- has been a long-pending demand of poor and developing countries, including India. But rich countries have avoided discussions on it for over a decade.

Experts said it is surprising that the call for phasing down all fossil fuels didn't find a place in the draft text despite most developing countries and some developed nations, including the US, and the European Union supporting it.

The draft text on COP 27's overarching decision puts a "placeholder" on funding arrangements to address loss and damage, which means parties are yet to reach a consensus on the matter.  It "encourages the continued efforts to accelerate measures towards the phase down of unabated coal power and phase out and rationalize inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, in line with national circumstances and recognizing the need for support towards just transitions".

The draft reaffirms that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius requires rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, including reducing global carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 relative to the 2010 level and to net zero around mid-century, as well as deep reductions in other greenhouse gases. 

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