Bonn Climate Summit - Hours Spent On Where Text Brackets Go, Saudis Whining That They Are Victims Of Global Warming

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Daily summaries of the talks compiled by the Earth Negotiations Bulletin documented the inertia, with descriptions of delegations arguing for hours over minutiae, such as where a block of sub-bracketed text should be placed within existing brackets. “We cannot afford to re-open previous decisions, to renegotiate existing targets or to backslide,” (Ed. UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon) Stiell said. “All parties must be comfortable and confident in restating our existing global commitments, without cherry-picking those that suit tactically in the moment.”

During the closing plenary on Thursday, a delegate from Saudi Arabia portrayed his country as a victim of climate change, citing the impact of extreme heat and drought, despite a body of peer-reviewed studies documenting the nation’s efforts to delay and obstruct international climate action over the past 30 years.

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The U.S. wasn’t completely absent from the talks. Youth activist Analyah Schlaeger dos Santos from Minneapolis attended as part of a broad coalition of community, environmental and labor groups, and said it feels like the U.S. government is abandoning its global responsibilities. “I’m going to ground us all in the continued necessary reminder that the United States is the largest historical polluter in the world, full stop,” she said during a June 16 press conference in Bonn. “That is our history. It is our reality. It’s not something that we can avoid any longer.”

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Noting that countries have backed away from climate finance commitments by saying they need to focus on military and energy security, dos Santos said, “it’s not that we don’t have the money to meaningfully address the climate crisis, it’s that we have a serious priorities issue.” In one example, a fund set up to pay out billions of dollars for irreplaceable loss and damage from climate impacts is languishing with only about $100 million in contributions, less than the cost of a week of war in Iran or Ukraine.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18062026/latest-un-climate-talks-marked-by-sidestepping-stalling/