Spending 12 days in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to cover the United Nations climate summit requires getting comfortable with contradictions.
Then there's the substance of UN talks themselves. Climate diplomats are trying to strengthen global efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions even as some of the countries they represent arein the name of energy security. That's the case in Europe, which is searching for alternative suppliers to Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
The event is formally known as the Conference of the Parties but people refer to it by the shorthand COP27. Last year's summit, COP26, was in Glasgow, Scotland. COP28 is set to take place next year in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The flooding helped catalyze the issue of"loss and damage" to the top of the COP27 agenda. Developing countries want to be compensated for the climate impacts they are already facing because of big polluters like the US and European Union.