COP27 was disappointing, but US-China climate diplomacy is thawing

“We rose to the occasion,” crowed Egypt’s foreign minister after COP27, the global climate summit that ended on November 20th. Hardly. The delegates failed to make a clear commitment to phase out the use of fossil fuels. The best they could produce was a vague agreement that rich countries should pay poor ones for climate-related “loss and damage”.

To the extent that this gesture may help keep the COP process on the road, it was worthwhile. But the money that has been pledged is paltry: about $260m. And countries have yet to agree on who should pay and who should receive the cash. Under the bizarre terms of the UN’s climate convention, China—after America, the second-largest total emitter in history—would count as a “developing country” and so be a suitable recipient. Rich countries say, correctly, that China is far from poor and ought to be a donor. But try squaring that with President Xi Jinping.