Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

According to the United States special climate envoy John Kerry, several nations have objected to the mention of a worldwide goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in the text of the COP27 summit in Egypt. When asked about opposition by some governments to mentioning the 1.5C target, Kerry said, “You’re absolutely correct. There are very few countries, but a few, that have raised the issue of not mentioning this word or that word.” 

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"But the fact is, that in Glasgow that was adopted, the language is there. And I know... Egypt doesn't intend to be the country that hosts a retreat from what was achieved in Glasgow," he added, referring to last year's COP summit in Scotland.

The Paris Agreement, which was signed in 2015 at a United Nations summit in France, was hailed as a major step forward in the global effort to combat climate change. It committed countries from across the world to attempt to keep the average global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees centigrade. 

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Since then, however, greenhouse gas emissions have increased, and scientists warn that if immediate and significant reductions are not made, the world may miss the target. Breaking the 1.5 degrees centigrade barrier puts the world at risk of experiencing the worst effects of global warming.

On Thursday, Kerry told CNN that the world cannot avoid the damaging impact of climate crisis without private money since governments are not willing to pay. He then went on to defend his plan of raising cash for climate action by selling carbon emission offsets to companies, while reiterating, “There is not enough money in any country in the world to actually solve this problem.”

(with inputs from agencies)

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