Former Irish president Robinson concerned Saudi Arabia, China will 'block' climate assistance

Former Irish President Mary Robinson said on Wednesday she was concerned at the state of talks at the COP27 climate summit on planned measures to address loss and damage suffered by poorer countries as a result of climate change.

Robinson, who heads a group of prominent former world leaders known as the Elders, named Saudi Arabia and China as areas for concern, saying they are trying to block assistance to vulnerable countries.

She referenced overnight talks between members of the Santiago Network, a UN scheme providing technical support to countries faced with damages from climate-fuelled natural disasters.

"I'm... very worried about the fact that the Santiago Network negotiations last night came up with a real problem because China and Saudi Arabia - and I'm naming names... are trying to block technical assistance for loss and damage going to the most vulnerable countries," she said.

 A spokesperson for the Saudi delegation to the talks declined to comment on Robinson's remarks.

Egypt's COP27 Presidency Special Representative Wael Aboulmagd, asked about the loss and damage talks, said the Santiago Network was "doing well and will be operationalised soon".

"On the funding side it will continue to be challenging. There are clearly divergent views on that," he said.

Getting agreement from richer countries to fund compensation for the impacts of events such as floods, droughts and hurricanes is a central issue for many developing countries at the talks and could yet scupper agreement on a final deal.

The G77 group of developing nations and China on Tuesday proposed the creation of a fund for loss and damage, yet the United States is currently opposed.

"There does seem to be a bit of a block in loss and damage. There isn't an agreement, it would appear, across the board, on a fund here and now," Robinson said.

The public intervention by the Elders - who back the creation of a fund - is rare and comes as negotiations head into the final straight ahead of the planned close of the climate summit on Friday, although discussions could yet be extended into next week.

Robinson said the Elders were keen to see a deal reached at the talks and that one solution could be an idea put forward by the Maldives to scope out prospects for a fund, and at the same time link the UN climate process with planned reform of the world's multilateral development banks (MDBs).

"The Maldives thinking could really be much more interesting... it buys time get to a bigger pot (of money); it creates a pathway to a bigger pot.

"There is no doubt there will be reform of the MDBs... and that should reflect, also, on climate finance and, in particular, loss and damage."

Robinson said it was important "to find a bridge between fund and no fund," adding Brazil and Barbados were thinking along similar lines.

(Reuters)