Busan, South Korea, 5 November 2022 (dpa/MIA) — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has expressed skepticism about how much progress can be achieved at the COP27 major UN climate talks in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh, given global political tensions. The world is entering a new period of conflict, Steinmeier said on Saturday in a discussion on climate policy in the South Korean city of Busan. "It is hard to imagine that in times of conflict and even military confrontation, states like Russia or China will play a constructive role in and after Sharm el-Sheikh." "Progress is absolutely necessary, even if the conditions for it are not very encouraging," Steinmeier said. When it came to Germany, Steinmeier pointed out that transforming the whole economy to make it sustainable is not easy at a time when Europe's largest economy is spending a lot of money to maintain stability in Europe, support Ukraine with weapons and increase the defence budget. "This is the same money we need to fight climate change," he said. The UN summit starting on Sunday and running until Nov. 18 will see representatives from around 200 countries grapple with how global warming can still be contained and how to finance efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change. UN Secretary General António Guterres warned in an interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper that "we will all be doomed" unless developed countries come to an agreement with poor countries to help them cope with the impact of climate change. In 2009, the developed countries pledged to provide $100 billion a year in finance by 2020 for climate protection in poor countries. The pledge remains largely unfulfilled. "There is no way we can avoid a catastrophic situation, if the two [the developed and developing world] are not able to establish a historic pact," he said. "Because at the present level, we will be doomed." The UN chief warned that the world is approaching dangerous tipping points that will make climate breakdown "irreversible." "That damage would not allow us to recover, and to contain temperature rises. And as we are approaching those tipping points, we need to increase the urgency, we need to increase the ambition, and we need to rebuild trust, mainly trust between north and south."