If COP26 was about countries making promises to avoid catastrophic climate change, COP27 will be about raising money so developing nations can do their part.
Alok Sharma, who presided over the last United Nations climate summit hosted by the U.K. in Glasgow, in the past week visited Vietnam and Indonesia — two middle-income countries that have said they could strengthen their climate pledges under the Paris Agreement. Both are seeking financial packages from rich countries that will allow them to transition away from coal.
As he prepares to hand over the COP presidency, Sharma isn't taking his foot off the gas. Neither is John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, who visited Cairo on Monday to launch the U.S.-Egypt Climate Working Group, which will seek to advance goals ahead of COP27 hosted by Egypt. This year’s meeting will focus less on raising targets to cut emissions and more on getting climate funding to developing countries — both to decarbonize and deal with the impacts of a warmer planet.
