| Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has been hand-picked to steer the COP27 talks on climate finance, as the fractious summit heads into its final days with many elements of the negotiations hanging in the balance.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen delivers Australia’s national statement to the COP27 plenary.It also gives weight to the growing expectation that Australia and its Pacific partners are likely to win the right to host the milestone COP31 summit in 2026. Egyptian COP27 president Sameh Shoukry unexpectedly tapped Mr Bowen to steer talks on ways to unlock funding for developing countries’ energy transitions. His co-facilitator will be India’s Bhupender Yadav.
The arguments on how countries will work to mitigate or prevent climate change are also quite technical – agreeing on terms of reference for a work program, for example – but can spill out into the political arena.