Last week, the Conference of Parties (COP 27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ended with a decision to create a “loss and damage” fund to assist poorer countries that are worst affected by global warming and climate change. However, many delegates believe that little progress was made on some other major goals, including stronger commitments to curb the use of fossil fuels and to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. According to the Chief Executive Officer of the World Resources Institute:
While progress on loss and damage was encouraging, it is disappointing that the decision mostly copy and pasted language from Glasgow [COP 26] about curbing emissions, rather than taking any significant new steps. It is mind-boggling that countries did not muster the courage to call for phasing down fossil fuels, which are the biggest driver of climate change.