COP 27 was electrified yesterday by the speech of President-elect Lula of Brazil. Promising to reverse the deforestation of the Amazon and commenting that Brazil is already a global agricultural giant without the need to clear any more rainforest, he called on wealthy nations to make good on their COP 15 pledge to set aside $100 billion per year for adaptation and demanded additional funding for loss and damage, noting that the countries least responsible for climate change were those currently suffering from it the most. He also underlined the importance of international partnerships, including the recent agreement between Brazil, Indonesia, and the Congo to work together on conservation.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, G20 leaders at the Summit in Bali issued a communique underlining their determination to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees C, to accelerate the “phase down of unabated coal power,” and to phase out “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”–commitments aligned with the COP 26 Declaration. The G20 also encouraged COP 27 negotiators to “make progress” on the issue of loss and damage.

Back in Egypt, agreement on the wording of the final Declaration is still proving elusive. Although details of the emerging text are few, support appears to be growing for India’s suggestion that the final Declaration reference “phasing down all fossil fuels” as opposed to the COP 26 reference to coal only. More worryingly, there are some indications that the final Declaration may not re-affirm commitment to the 1.5 degree C target, but may reference 2 degrees instead. In tacit acknowledgement of the slow progress, the Australian Climate Change Minister has been deputed to take the lead on the stuttering negotiations over the crucial question of climate financing for poor and vulnerable countries.

Given that the G20 countries are responsible for 75% of global emissions, the strong language in the G20 communique appears designed to galvanize the sluggish progress of negotiations in Sharm. Germany’s climate envoy made this link explicit when she commented that the inclusion of 1.5C in the G20 communique “sent an important signal to the ministers and negotiators at COP 27 . . . The G20 stand by the Glasgow climate pact and there cannot be any rollback on this in Sharm el-Sheikh.”

Other Developments:

• Norway and Germany will re-open the Amazon Fund.

• The outgoing chair of the Alliance of Small Island States said the creation of a loss and damage fund was a “red line.” Without it, he threatened that the Alliance would be prepared to leave the summit without endorsing a closing Declaration.