What you need to know about climate conference in Egypt

Officials have urged countries to commit to plans to further reduce emissions and meet the Paris targets of limiting warming levels to "well below" the 2C mark, with an aspirational target of 1.5C. Studies show that warming beyond 1.5C would have calamitous consequences, such as the potential disappearance of warm water coral reefs worldwide.

Reports published in the run-up to COP27 show the world is on course to warm by between 2.6 and 2.8C (5.04F) by the end of the century in the absence of further emissions cuts.

Many developing countries are calling for more attention and financing to be channeled to measures that can help countries cope with the effects of climate change that are already present. Such measures include creating warning systems for worsening extreme weather events.

Loss and damage to dominate

The summit will feature intense clashes over funding to cover the costs of climate change damages occurring in developing nations, such as the Pakistan floods. The meeting may, however, fail if countries can't agree on how to move forward on a financing mechanism for what the UN calls "loss and damage" - compensation for vulnerable nations that are being hit hardest by climate change, but contributed the least to causing the problem.

This, as a relatively small group of countries - roughly the G20 nations - are responsible for most of the warming-related impacts.

Developing countries have signaled that they will push hard for a financing mechanism for loss and damage, which is sometimes referred to as "climate reparations," and has been under debate in the UN climate talks since their start in the early 1990s.

"Getting concrete results on loss and damage is the litmus test of the commitment of governments to help close all these gaps," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said ahead of the summit.

Many industrialised nations plan to support the discussion of loss and damage. However, they are skittish about committing to a specific mechanism to pay for it.

This is the situation when Western nations have fallen short on previous funding commitments.

A 2009 promise of $100 billion per year for developing country climate aid has not fully materialised.

Kenya's stand on loss and damage?

Kenya's climate envoys led by President William Ruto Monday made a strong case on loss and damage.

He said the Horn of Africa region, including Kenya, is experiencing the worst drought in 40 years. Two consecutive years without rain have visited misery to millions of people. That 2.5 million livestock have died in Kenya this year alone causing economic losses of more than $1.5 billion.

The head of state told the delegation that relief food distribution to 4.3 million affected Kenyans has forced the country to reallocate funds budgeted for education and health.

"The trade-offs we are forced to make between indispensable public goods is evidence that climate change is directly threatening our people's lives, health and future," Ruto said.

He explained how drought, has led to many children dropping out of school. "We have been compelled to make school feeding a priority in order to keep children in class." The country has also had to spend $3 million to supply feed and water to wildlife in the last three months due to the ravaging drought.

"As we speak, the pledge made 13 years ago in Copenhagen, committing $100 billion annually, remains unfulfilled. Such egregious and unexplained default is a major cause of persisting distrust. Neither is there any sound reason for the continuing pollution," Ruto stated.

On clean energy the Head of State said Kenya has tremendous hydrocarbon and coal deposits which would go a long way in fueling the engines of development.

Nevertheless, due to resolute commitment, our electricity grid is 93 per cent green.

Reality COP27 participants face

Two major UN reports out last month set a sobering scene for the summit. The first warned that the world is hurtling toward up to 2.8C (5.04F) of warming above preindustrial levels by 2100 barring major new steps. This is way beyond the 1.5C target set by the Paris climate agreement.

The second report found that despite calls at last year's COP26 for countries to step up with more stringent emissions plans, just 24 did so.

A new report released on Sunday found that the past eight years have been the world's warmest on record and the pace of sea level rise is increasing.

Who's attending COP27?

Former US President Joe Biden, as well as dozens of other world leaders, will make an appearance at the summit. Biden will address the meeting on tomorrow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are not expected to attend. China is currently the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese won't be making an appearance and neither will Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his office confirmed to Axios.