The Holy See aligned itself with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Egypt to derail a deal that would provide a package of support, including financial help, for women in vulnerable countries. The United Nations estimates that women and girls currently make up 80 per cent of people displaced by climate change.
Sostina Takure, the Zimbabwe co-ordinator for the Christian charity ACT Alliance, has been closely following the negotiations. She said: “I was shocked when the Vatican raised their flag and opposed the human-rights language. My heart shattered into a million pieces.”
Delegates from several European nations, who have championed gender equality in the talks, walked out in protest. It is unclear whether a resolution will be agreed before the summit closes this weekend.
The gender and climate negotiations were seeking to extend the Lima work programme — a part of the COP talks first agreed in the Peruvian capital in 2014 — which acts as the global plan to support women dealing with climate change. Without agreement in Baku, the Lima programme would end.
One of the sections that the group of blockers took issue with was a line proposed by African and EU countries which said that not all women’s experiences of climate change are the same; it said that experiences can differ depending on “gender, sex, age and race”.
The Vatican, along with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Egypt opposed the word “gender” on the grounds that it could include transgender women.
These countries have not raised any concerns about the language around women’s rights over the past decade. One country negotiator told the BBC: “It is part of a broader global backlash against women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights.”
The Vatican said that it was keen to pursue an agreement that recognised the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and girls. The spokesperson said: “The Holy See hopes that consensus will be reached, with respect for the sensitivities of each participating State and in a language acceptable to all.”
The COP29 hosts published the first serious draft outcome “text” on Thursday morning, which was criticised by many country delegates and civil-society groups around the world.
The procedure for negotiating these documents is an iterative process.
The latest version had been whittled down to ten pages from its previous edition, which was more than 30.
But the document included no figures in terms of how much climate finance developed countries, including the UK, would provide to vulnerable countries, despite that being the main point of these talks.
Illari Aragon, Christian Aid’s Climate Justice Policy Lead, said: “These negotiations are about funding the fight against climate change. The can has been kicked down the road for the last few years and people in developing countries have been left to fend for themselves in the face of terrible storms, floods, droughts and rising sea levels.
“It is clear that the global energy transition is only moving in one direction, away from fossil fuels and towards renewables. But the question is whether it is moving fast enough to protect the most vulnerable.”