COP27: US climate envoy John Kerry tests positive for Covid-19 as UN climate talks slow

US climate envoy John Kerry has tested positive for Covid-19 at the UN climate talks in Egypt, a spokeswoman said late on Friday, the latest setback for what appeared to be stalled negotiations that were already going into overtime.

“He is fully vaccinated and boosted and experiencing mild symptoms. He is working with his negotiations team and foreign counterparts by phone to ensure a successful outcome of COP27,” spokeswoman Whitney Smith wrote in a statement late on Friday.

Kerry’s illness is sure to add to worries about the speed of negotiations, which were expected to end on Friday but are continuing with no clear end in sight.

Negotiations, at least those in public, hit a lull on Friday afternoon into the evening, as press conferences and plenaries were postponed or cancelled. Diplomats said they hoped for late-night progress as they changed airline reservations for talks going into extended overtime in Egypt.

Delegates said there was some headway being made, especially on the most difficult sticking point. That is the issue of ‘loss and damage,’ which is the idea of some kind of compensation – a dedicated fund or something less formal – from rich nations to help out poor nations already hit hard by extreme climate events worsened by decades of burning of fossil fuels by developed nations.

“I think we’re in for a bit of a long haul,” World Resources Institute international climate director David Waskow said. “Loss and damage sits at the centre in terms of what needs to be done to get this over the finish line.”

After being a tad isolated in not favouring a dedicated loss and damage fund, there is talk of the United States working on yet another proposal with the European Union, which produced a surprise offer Thursday, Waskow said. He also noted that one issue is the surprising unity of poorer nations, often called G77 and China, on the issue, insisting on a fund being established at this summit.