SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — John Kerry, the most sensible U. S. envoy to this year’s United Nations climate talks in Egypt, tested positive for COVID-19, a delayed spokesman said late Friday, a possible setback to negotiations already underway in extension with no results in sight.
“He is fully vaccinated and reinforced and has mild symptoms. He is working with his negotiating team and his foreign colleagues by phone to ensure the good fortune of COP27,” spokeswoman Whitney Smith wrote in a delayed statement Friday.
Kerry’s illness is sure to add to considerations about the negotiations, which were due to end on Friday. Kerry, a former U. S. senator and secretary of state, has close relationships with world leaders and has a lot of influence in foreign talks. His meetings in Sharm el-Sheikh with Chinese meteorological envoy Xie Zhenhua were heavily monitored for signs that the world’s two biggest polluters could reach a deal that would encourage overall talks.
Negotiations, at least in public, were halted on Friday afternoon when press meetings and plenary sessions were postponed or cancelled. Diplomats said they expected progress through the evening and replaced airline bookings so talks could continue.
Delegates said progress had been made, particularly on the most challenging point. This is the challenge for industrialized countries offering cash to vulnerable countries suffering “loss and damage” as a result of climate-related disasters.
“I think we’re on time,” said David Waskow, director of outdoor weather at the World Resources Institute. “Loss and grief are central to what you want to do to cross the end line. “
The United States appeared distant in opposing a committed fund for loss and damage after the European Union made a wonderful offer on the factor on Thursday. But a State Department official showed negotiations on the factor were ongoing.
An organization of emerging countries known as the G-77 and China insisted that a fund be set up at the assembly and remained attached to the issue on Friday night.
Other delegates to the talks expressed hope that an agreement would still be possible.
“We’re very busy and they’re making progress and they’ve clarified all positions,” Molwyn Joseph, speaking on behalf of the small island states, told The Associated Press.
“It’s imaginable we’ll get a result, but it can also fail at the last minute,” New Zealand weather minister James Shaw said. “And I think if that happened, it would be a real disgrace because it’s as close (in terms of loss and damage) as ever before. “
Climate activist Nakeeyat Dramani Sam from Ghana rebuked delegates at this year’s UN climate talks, who would act faster to curb global warming if they were their age.
“This is an emergency,” the 10-year-old told negotiators, holding a sign that read “Back Payment. “planet?
But after receiving a standing ovation, it is the step back from nations arguing over several thorny issues, and the Egyptian presidency acknowledged that the talks would move to additional time on Saturday, if not longer.
“Time is on our side,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said. Speaking as chair of the summit, he vowed to look for a non-unusual floor in the future. “The global network expects us to be ambitious and ambitious. “
The EU’s proposal on payment for “loss and damage” on Thursday would force emerging economies such as China, the second-largest former polluter after the US, to do so. The U. S. government is required to make a contribution to the fund.
“We are making it transparent that Europe is on the side of the most vulnerable states,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said. “Others can now show which side they are on. “
The EU proposal would also require greater efforts to “mitigate” greenhouse fuel emissions in order to curb global warming. previous commitments to phase out coal.
Unless emissions are cut more dramatically, “no cash in the world can pay for the damages and losses of the future,” Baerbock said.
EU meteorological leader Frans Timmermans said Friday that the bloc’s proposal on financing and mitigating loss and damage is “a final offer” that seeks to “find a compromise” between countries as negotiators paint a future.
The environmental organization Action Aid called the proposal a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” because it is not approved enough.
The EU plan ran counter to a proposal by the Group of 77 and China, which would create a fund but require evolved countries to contribute, with the exception of major polluters China and India.
China, which had remained silent for much of the talks, and Saudi Arabia said cash for a loss-and-damage fund would not come from them. Both also insisted that the 2015 Paris Agreement that aims to restrict global warming to an ambitious increase of 1. 5 Celsius (2. 7 Fahrenheit) cannot be changed, which can be interpreted as not strengthening efforts.
A senior Maldivian official has expressed growing frustration over how vulnerable countries continue to be caught up in battles between tougher nations in talks, even as their scenario becomes increasingly dire due to climate change.
“Small island states are only 86 months old and we are already feeling it,” the official said, referring to scientists’ calculations that greenhouse fuel emissions will have to be halved by 2030. “We cannot be trapped between global powers. “
Friday’s draft of the comprehensive resolution on the final results of the talks, released through the Egyptian presidency, includes references to multilaterally progressive bank reform, but does not include or refer to the detailed Bridgetown initiative on monetary reform by Barbados and its Prime Minister Mia Motley.
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Samy Magdy, Frank Jordans and Olivia Zhang contributed to this report.
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