A moment of cheer ahead of the UN climate summit in Egypt was provided by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who put protecting the Amazon rainforest at the heart of his winning campaign for the Brazilian presidency.

But as delegates from nearly 200 countries prepare for the start of the COP27 conference on Sunday, the mood is one of gloom, reflecting the clouds that have gathered since the last summit a year ago in Glasgow.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has ignited an energy crisis that has stoked inflation and threatened food security. Squeezed budgets in wealthy countries are testing their willingness to pay poorer nations to ditch polluting fossil fuels that contribute to dangerous climate change. Serious debt problems are afflicting a number of big developing nations.