London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

UN chief says stop ‘blame game’ at deadlocked climate talks

UN chief says stop ‘blame game’ at deadlocked climate talks

UN chief Antonio Guterres urged rich and developing nations to stop the “finger pointing” at deadlocked climate talks on Thursday and reach a deal on covering the losses suffered by vulnerable countries battered by weather disasters.
With the two-week COP27 conference in Egypt officially due to wrap up on Friday, negotiators faced a long night as they scrambled to find a compromise over the contentious issue of “loss and damage” and prevent the talks from collapsing.

Guterres said there was “clearly a breakdown in trust” between developed and emerging economies, adding that the most effective way to build confidence would be to find an “ambitious and credible agreement” on loss and damage and financial support for vulnerable countries.

“This is no time for finger pointing. The blame game is a recipe for mutually assured destruction,” he said, after flying back to Egypt from Bali where he had attended a G20 leaders meeting.

“The time for talking on loss and damage finance is over — we need action.”

Developing nations least responsible for global emissions are pushing rich polluters to agree at COP27 on the creation of a fund to compensate countries facing huge losses from climate impacts.

After dragging their feet over loss and damage over concerns it would leave rich nations legally exposed to open-ended demands for compensation, the
United States and European Union somewhat softened their position by agreeing to discuss the issue at COP27.

Hours after Guterres’s intervention, Sameh Shoukry, the COP27 president, urged delegates to approach the last hours of talks with “urgency.”

“We are not where we need to be in order to close this conference with tangible and robust outcomes,” he said at a session late Thursday.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans proposed the establishment of a “loss and damage response fund for the most vulnerable countries” as a compromise.

But he also said that the funding should come from a “broad donor base” — code for China, the world’s top polluter and second biggest economy, to participate.

An earlier proposal from China and some 130 developing nations — known as G77+China — limits the donor base to a list of two-dozen rich nations drawn up in 1992.

Timmermans has said that countries such as China, which were poorer 30 years ago, should not be left “off the hook” now that they have grown wealthier.

The G77+China proposal also says the fund would be used to assist “developing nations” in broader terms than the EU’s proposal.

“For us, the success of COP27 depends on what we get on loss and damage,” G77+China lead negotiator Nabeel Munir of Pakistan said after Timmermans spoke.

The United States, the world’s second biggest carbon emitter, did not address the open meeting while a Chinese representative did not directly mention loss and damage in his intervention.

A draft text published later on the COP27 website included some of the language in both proposals, without going into details into who would have to pay into the fund.

Earlier, Ralph Regenvanu, minister of climate change for the Pacific island of Vanuatu, warned that walking out of the talks “was discussed as an option” if developing nations come away empty handed.

“We are out of time and we are out of money and we are out of patience,” he said at a news conference.

Protests held within the conference compound have sought to keep up the pressure on delegates, with small but vocal crowds of demonstrators chanting:

“What do we want? Climate justice!“

The deadlock on loss and damage is holding up agreement on a broad range of issues that nations are hoping to address at COP27.

Developed countries want countries to reaffirm their commitment to meeting the aspirational goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — a tough target as CO2 emissions are expected to hit an all-time high this year.

Timmermans said that for the EU, the 1.5C target and loss and damage “are two sides of the same coin.”

“We sincerely hope that by this offer that we are making tonight, we can bring parties closer together because we believe it is urgent that we show to all our constituents that we want this COP to succeed,” he said.

Developing nations have also sought assurances at COP27 that rich countries will finally fulfil promises to provide $100 billion a year to help them green their economies and adapt to future impacts.

“The climate clock is ticking, and trust keeps eroding,” Guterres said.

“The parties at COP27 have a chance to make a difference — here and now. I urge them to act — and act quickly.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×