What they are saying at the COP27 climate summit

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SHARM EL-SHEIKH — Negotiators made their final push for a deal at the COP27 climate talks in Egypt on Saturday, trying to bridge divisions over funding relief for climate change disasters and commitments for long-term action.

Here are some quotes:

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SAMEH SHOUKRY, COP27 PRESIDENT

“The issue now rests with the will of the parties. It is the parties who must rise to the occasion and take upon themselves the responsibility of finding the areas of convergence.”

“The (draft) text does keep the 1.5 alive,” he said referring to an aim, enshrined by previous climate summits, to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

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FRANS TIMMERMANS, EU CLIMATE POLICY CHIEF

“All (EU) ministers … are prepared to walk away if we do not have a result that does justice to what the world is waiting for – namely that we do something about this climate crisis. We’d rather have no decision than a bad decision.”

EAMON RYAN, IRISH ENVIRONMENT MINISTER

“We have to be fast here now, but not fast towards a bad result. Not fast in terms of accepting something that we then spend years regretting – that every year afterwards we say ‘if only we had held the line in Sharm el-Sheikh and got something that really supports the most vulnerable people on our planet’.”

CHRIS BOWEN, AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE CHANGE MINISTER

“Australia’s position is clear and strong: there can be no sliding back from Glasgow and the text should be strengthened where possible.”

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ESPEN BARTH EIDE, NORWAY CLIMATE MINISTER, ON TWITTER

“Concerned about the state of play at #COP27. We still have no certainty that we will be able to reconfirm the 1.5C commitments from Glasgow & establish a credible work program on mitigation to reflect this existential task. Hard work is underway to save the summit.”

SHERRY REHMAN, PAKISTAN CLIMATE MINISTER, ON TWITTER

“Am still there with skeleton team from @ClimateChangePK & @ForeignOfficePk, without much sleep or food, trying with others to land some outcomes that go forward from the last conference, as opposed to reiterating same in different language. We can’t afford inaction.” (Reporting by William James, Dominic Evans, Shadia Nasralla Editing by Janet Lawrence and Frances Kerry)