John Kerry notes some reluctance to mention 1.5ºC warming limit at Cop27

US climate envoy says climate talks in Sharm El Sheikh have made genuine progress, but much work is left

A man wears a face mask that reads "no climate justice without human rights" during a protest at the COP27 UN Climate Summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. AP

A presentation at the American University in Cairo Pavilion. Reuters

Egyptian artist Bahia Sheha stands inside her installation "Heaven & Hell in the Anthropocene." AFP

Akihiro Nishimura, minister of the environment of Japan, reviews notes with others at the COP27. AP

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, right, and Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate greet each other at the COP27 UN Climate Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. AP

Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva poses for a group photograph with representatives of his country's indigenous people. AFP

People attend the COP27 UN Climate Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh. EPA

Activists dancing during a discussion on leaflets at the Cop27 climate conference, taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. AFP

An activist wears a polar bear outfit as part of campaigning. AFP

From left, Rakia Amandou of Niger, Ba Aminata of Burkina Faso, Kenyan Rosemary Nenini, Fatima Mustafa Ahmed from Sudan and Djeneb Dicko from Burkina Faso at the Indigenous Peoples Pavilion. AP

Abdulla Nasser Musallam Al Rahbi, Oman's Ambassador to Egypt and Permanent Representative to the Arab League, speaks at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. AFP

Climate activists demonstrate in the designated protest zone. AP

Sheikh Abdullah, Director General of Environment at the Public Authority of Kuwait, speaks at Cop27. AFP

Visitors at the Sharm El Sheikh International Convention Centre. AFP

A display outside the convention centre. AFP

A fountain in the green zone at the International Convention Centre at sunset. AFP

Mohamed bin Daina, right, Bahrain's Special Envoy for Climate Affairs and Chief Executive at the Supreme Council for Environment, at the conference. AFP

Members of Extinction Rebellion stage a protest at the Glencairn tidal pool outside Cape Town, South Africa to mark Cop27's 'Water Day'. AP

From left, Fahad Al Maskari of the Khalifa University, Frank Hartmann, Ghaleb Al Breiki of the UAE University, and Mouna Maroun of the University of Haifa, sign an agreement at Cop27. AFP

John Kerry, US special presidential envoy for climate, at Cop27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. AP Photo

Australian climate activists offer bananas to climate summit participants. AFP

Climate activist Sabrina Elba. AP Photo

Egyptian security forces stand guard during the protest. AFP

US President Joe Biden. AFP

Mr Biden with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. AP

A Cop27 sign in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, provides the backdrop for this woman's selfie. Reuters

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi speaks to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the climate summit. AFP

A water wonderland greets this child at an acquarium in the Cop27 Green Zone. Reuters

Mr El Sisi, second left, takes part in a cycling marathon on the sidelines of Cop27. EPA

Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, speaks in Sharm El Sheikh about 'complicated' talks to set up a protection zone around Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. AFP

Frankie the dinosaur. Reuters

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Reuters

Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan, CEO of the Alliances for Global Sustainability; Mariam Al Mheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment and Minister of State for Food Security; and Hatem Dowidar, group CEO at e&. AFP

Sameh Shoukry, Cop27 president, centre left, poses for photos in the youth pavilion. AP

A visitor looks at the 'Zero Point' series of collage portraits by Turkish artist Deniz Sagdic, each of which is made from a particular kind of upcycled waste material. Getty

Participants visit the Ukrainian pavillon. AFP

Mr Kerry speaks during a session on accelerating the clean energy transition in developing countries. AP

Youth climate activists. Pictured, from the left, Eric Njuguna of Kenya, Nicole Becker of Argentina, Vanessa Nakate of Uganda, Sophia Kianni from Iran, and Mitzi Jonelle Tan of the Philippines. AP

Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, right, chairman of the Islamic Development Bank Group, poses for a photo with Mohamed Hadi Al Hussaini, the UAE's Minister of State for Financial Affairs. AFP

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Bloomberg

A police officer stands at the entrance of the Sharm El Sheikh International Convention Centre during Cop27. Reuters

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. AP Photo

Former US vice president Al Gore speaks during a session at Cop27. AP Photo

Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest. AFP

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said on Saturday that a few countries have surprisingly resisted mentioning the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels during the UN climate summit in Egypt.

Addressing a news conference, Mr Kerry also gave a general assessment of the two-week Cop27 summit at its halfway point. He said a lot of work had yet to be done but delegates “genuinely are making really good progress”.

He said the world has to meet the goal of keeping the temperature increase below 1.5ºC by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. After that, he said, it could be impossible to hit that target, barring a major scientific breakthrough.

There have been some ominous findings revealed over the past week in Sharm El Sheikh, the Red Sea resort hosting the UN summit, about the chances of meeting the target set at the UN climate summit in Paris in 2015.

Greenhouse gas emissions have been rising since and scientists now say the world risks missing the target without swift and deep cuts.

Breaching the 1.5ºC threshold risks unleashing the worst consequences of global warming, they say.

The Global Carbon Brief outlined how there was a 50 per cent chance that global temperature will rise and hit 1.5°C in less than a decade. If this vital threshold is breached, scientists believe half the world's population could be exposed to life-threatening changes to the climate.

Emissions would have to fall at rates comparable to 2020 — when Covid-19 restrictions shut down transport, industry and economic activities — every year to keep temperature rises to 1.5°C in the long term, according to the Global Carbon Brief.

In response to a question, Mr Kerry, whose country has historically been the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, said: “There are very few countries, but a few, that have raised the issue of not mentioning this word [1.5 degrees] or that word."

"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 said, referring to last year's climate summit in Scotland.

Mr Kerry was also asked about loss and damage — negotiation language for providing the most vulnerable countries with funds to adapt to damage wreaked by climate change or mitigate its effects.

Loss and damage was added to the agenda of the UN climate summit in Egypt, a goal that had proved elusive for years.

"It's a well-known fact that the United States and many other countries will not establish some sort of legal structure that is tied to compensation or liability. That's just not happening," Mr Kerry said.

"We will find a way, I am confident, to be able to have financial arrangements that reflect the reality of how we are all going to deal with the climate crisis."

Mr Kerry also refused to be drawn into details of his talks on the sidelines of Cop27 with China’s climate envoy, whose country is the world’s second largest gas emitter after the US.

He described the talks as informal and said the situation would become clearer after President Joe Biden meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.