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Negotiations move behind closed doors and China confirms ‘informal’ talks with US

After the leaders’ speeches of the first couple of days, most of the negotiations have now moved behind closed doors. The big discussions today were all around finance, and there does appear to have been some movement on this, as Damian Carrington reported, with positive momentum potentially starting to build on a pivotal issue as the UK said it would allow some debt payment deferrals, while Austria and New Zealand put forward funding for loss and damage.

Other developments included:

The family of the jailed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah demanded proof of life for the third day in a row

A Kulkalgal activist from the Torres Strait Islands said the way the world often treated Indigenous people was an insult and that he was at the conference “fighting for our home”

Bill McKibben, a US environmentalist and founder of 350.org, told an audience: “This year we’ve fully understood the link between fossil fuels and fascism. Putin could not have invaded Ukraine without the profits from oil and gas, or [cowed] the west with threats of turning off the taps.”

The World Bank president, David Malpass, said he was not a “climate denier”. The Donald Trump appointee previously said he did not “even know” if he accepted climate science.

Protesters staged rallies inside the central conference area, ignoring Egypt’s attempts to keep displays of dissent out of sight.

Almost half of young people in Africa say they have reconsidered having children due to the climate crisis, according to a Unicef poll.

China’s envoy said the US had “closed the door” to climate talks and needed to reopen it. Xie Zhenhua said Beijing and Washington were having “informal talks”. Xie also hinted that China may contribute to a “loss and damage” fund.

John Kerry, the US climate envoy, announced a global carbon credit trading initiative that he said would be “critical” in helping developing countries transition to cleaner forms of energy. That has received a mixed reaction from environmental groups.

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A Kulkalgal activist from the Torres Strait Islands has said the way the world often treats Indigenous people is an insult and he is attending the Cop27 conference in Egypt 'fighting for our home'.  Yessie Mosby, who in September was part of a group of claimants who made history in a landmark legal case that found the Australian government should compensate Torres Strait Islanders over climate crisis failures, said: 'Whether it's us in the saltwater, people of the Pacific Islands, or the people of the plains and the mountains, the swamps, who are facing climate change, we really want our voices to be heard. And we really need action.'

• Cop27 global climate summit: latest updates

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Experts have urged the supervisory body on Article 6.4 to ensure the proposed grievance process, or mechanism, has teeth, is designed by landholders, and has key transparency assurances, as efforts are underway to establish it in time for the beginning of credit issuances in 2025.

Many oil and gas facilities around the world are emitting three times more greenhouse gases (GHG) than claimed, a new report states.

Next year's planned introduction of a reporting system for the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) is likely to suffer a "small delay" as the legislators are still negotiating the proposal, the European Parliament's lead lawmaker on the issue said on Wednesday.

The US will focus on five strategic areas to support nature-based solutions (NBS) and achieve the country’s 2030 GHG reduction targets, President Joe Biden’s administration announced Tuesday on the sidelines of COP27.

Critics question plan’s value in dealing with climate crisis and its potential to ‘harm communities and undermine human rights’

The US government has unveiled a new voluntary carbon trading market scheme with the aim of boosting private investment in clean energy projects in developing countries.

John Kerry, the US’s climate envoy, said the new initiative, called the energy transition accelerator, will be created in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund to help deliver the trillions of dollars of investment needed to help poorer countries transition to renewables and stave off disastrous climate impacts.

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A platform showing forestry data across every country and jurisdiction in the world, including degradation levels, was launched at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday.

Southeast Asian nation Laos aims to generate 30 million tonnes worth of forestry emissions reductions by 2025, with a senior minister telling a COP27 event that the government is now "highly engaged" in driving private sector interest with possible VCM and Article 6.2 involvement on the horizon.

Climate change committee chair tells chancellor there are many small changes people can make to save energy and money

The UK government must improve its energy-saving advice for households to help cut costs for consumers and the Treasury this winter, its climate advisers have said.

The climate change committee chair, Lord Deben, said Britain was exposed to fluctuations in the price for fossil fuels that had forced the government to commit tens of billions of pounds in support and still left homes and businesses facing an extra £1,300 on average annual bills.

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Senior representatives from the Dominican Republic and certifier Global Carbon Council both said Wednesday that they are looking to leave COP27 with carbon credit trade deals announced under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement.

German-based exchange EEX looks set to fill the gap left by Xpansiv last month after the latter dropped plans to host carbon units from sovereign forestry conservation platform REDD.plus.

China’s delegation to COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh has begun informal discussions with their US counterpart, as the world’s largest emitter aims to promote multilateral efforts on addressing climate change and loss and damage, as well as push against actions such as the EU’s proposed carbon border mechanism, President Xi Jinping’s representative to COP27 told journalists Wednesday.

EUAs dropped by more than €4 in the space of two hours on Wednesday as sellers continued to dominate thin trading conditions ahead of European Parliament discussions over the bloc's REPowerEU plan.

The EU has reached a provisional political agreement on reforming the bloc's Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) that establishes binding national targets in non-ETS sectors, after late-night trilogue talks on Tuesday between negotiators from the Parliament, Commission, and Council of member states.

A London-based energy and carbon risk management firm has announced a private equity investment from a firm specialising in industrial decarbonisation.

US climate envoy John Kerry on Wednesday at COP27 announced plans to enable companies to buy carbon credits to support developing countries accelerate their phaseout of coal power and expansion renewable power, aiming to develop a framework by the end of next year to scale the finance available, and confirming a partnership with a new African carbon market initiative launched earlier at the summit.

China should expand the sectoral coverage of its national emissions trading scheme to include cement and steel as soon as possible to mitigate the impact of the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) proposed by the EU, a webinar heard on Wednesday.

Small but symbolic moves at summit where finance is critical include new loss and damage money and debt relief

• Cop27 live – latest news updates

A series of symbolic moves on climate finance at Cop27 suggests positive momentum could be starting to build on a pivotal issue at the UN summit in Egypt.

The UK said it would allow some debt payment deferrals for countries hit by climate disasters, while Austria and New Zealand put forward funding for loss and damage, which is the cost of rebuilding in poorer nations after unavoidable climate impacts.

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Pausing mid-sentence and flipping through his notes, UN secretary general, António Guterres, realised he was reading from the wrong speech. 'I'm going to speak to a group of young people afterwards and there was a small confusion. I apologise,' he told a huge crowd of attendees at Cop27 on Wednesday

• Cop27: World Bank president says he is not a ‘climate denier’; protests in Sharm el-Sheikh– live

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