Climate summit ends with crucial decisions left to future years

Other than setting up a fund for loss and damage, COP27 fell short of expectations.

For a few minutes on Saturday evening, it seemed as if the COP27 climate conference was concluding. Phones buzzed with notifications of newly uploaded draft treaty documents. These indicated a consensus on major issues like loss and damage, which had dominated the headlines since the summit’s opening, and had delayed the close by an extra day. Observers and journalists appeared relieved. Some clicked group photos and cheered. The UN climate secretariat even scheduled a YouTube live stream of the closing meeting.

“We’re tired, we just want to end this and go home,” a European negotiator had told me earlier, standing …

Author

Nihar Gokhale

Nihar Gokhale led the Chaos coverage at The Morning Context. Nihar wrote on the environment, the economy and resource conflicts in India. He has reported from across the country on everything from displacement, pollution and environmental violations to land regulation, corruption and human rights. He was earlier associate editor at Land Conflict Watch, and his work has appeared in Scroll, The Wire, IndiaSpend, The Caravan and Mongabay India.

Editor, Chaos

nihar@mailtmc.com

Delhi