The initial draft for a COP27 agreement out this morning omits calls for phasing down all fossil fuels, which means the fraught meeting may not move beyond coal-focused goals from last year's summit.
Why it matters: The20 pages of preliminary text released by the Egyptian COP president in Sharm el-Sheikh are a blank slate on how to compensate vulnerable nations for climate damages.
Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced Brazil's return to climate diplomacy after outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro spurned the UN process, and drove up Amazon deforestation.
Driving the news: Lula got a rock star welcome at COP27 in Egypt and forcefully addressed several critical negotiating sticking points, including climate damages.
The G20 summit in Indonesia produced a joint pledge today to maintain the ambitious but long-shot Paris Agreement goal of holding temperature rise to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.
Driving the news: The communique also calls for progress at COP27 on "loss and damage" — compensating poor, vulnerable nations for climate harms.
State of play: This is the negotiating period before the all-night sessions begin, when draft texts are circulating in hallways and in the press, but ministers are waiting for the official proposal that may become the COP27 agreement.
The toll of climate-fueled disasters in the Global South is a focal point at COP27 as developing nations push for loss and damage financing.
The big picture: Climate change is contributing to an increase in heavier rainfall and has been linked to more intense flood events, creating "hotspots" in regions of Africa where flooding and rising food insecurity collide.
