SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) -Negotiators at the COP27 summit in Egypt face a difficult task over the coming days, European Union climate policy chief Frans Timmermans said on Thursday.
“It’s going to be quite a long and difficult journey to the end of this process,” Timmermans told a news conference. “Today, I’m afraid I’m not sure yet where these talks will land.”
“If this COP fails, we all lose.”
The first draft of a deal being hashed out at the COP27 climate summit would keep a target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, but leaves many of the most contentious issues in the talks unresolved ahead of a Friday deadline.
“The presidency have reassured me that this text is a compilation of submissions they received and not a proposed presidency landing zone. That’s good news,” Timmermans said.
“I hope the presidency will present us soon with a text that we can take as a basis for negotiations.”
(Reporting by William James; Editing by Dominic Evans)
