This year’s conference brought together global leaders from government, civil society, industry, and finance to raise ambition and accelerate action on the Paris Agreement and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. At the EU Pavilion in Sharm El-Sheikh and online, the Commission hosted over 125 side events on biodiversity protection, nature restoration, energy security, the green transition, sustainable finance, food and water security, and research and innovation. Following COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 and amid a critical period in the fight for climate justice, COP27 presented an opportunity to make a statement and achieve real progress ahead of COP28 in Dubai.
The conference’s most significant outcome was the establishment of a funding mechanism to compensate vulnerable nations for “loss and damage” from climate-induced disasters. Held from Nov 6 – 18 2022, the conference drew a record attendance of over 35,000 people, including government representatives, observers, and civil society members. The massive turnout raised questions before and during the conference about its credibility in pursuing and enforcing climate justice. Sunita Narain, director-general of the Centre for Science and Environment, an environmental research organization in New Delhi, was among those who criticized the conference’s format and structure. She expressed her belief that the conference was incapable of addressing the planetary emergency of climate change and described the negotiations as “completely devoid of reality.” Researchers were particularly frustrated by the lack of ambition to phase out fossil fuels during the conference. Despite its shortcomings, the conference did answer some questions.
Highlights of the meeting included the launch of the first report of the High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities. The report condemned greenwashing—the deliberate misleading of the public about an entity’s environmental efforts—and weak net-zero pledges. It then provided a roadmap for improving the integrity of net-zero commitments by industry, financial institutions, cities, and regions to support a global, equitable transition to a sustainable future.
During COP27, the UN announced the Executive Action Plan for the Early Warnings for All initiative, calling for $3.1 billion in new targeted investments between 2023 and 2027—an amount equivalent to just 50 cents per person per year.
Meanwhile, former US Vice-President and climate activist Al Gore, with the support of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, presented a new independent inventory of greenhouse gas emissions created by the Climate TRACE Coalition. This tool, which combines satellite data and artificial intelligence, will be used to track the facility-level emissions of over 70,000 sites around the world, including companies in China, the United States, and India. This will allow leaders to identify the location and scope of carbon and methane emissions being released into the atmosphere.
Another highlight of the conference was a master plan to accelerate the decarbonization of five major sectors: power, road transport, steel, hydrogen, and agriculture. The plan was presented by the COP27 Egyptian Presidency, Sameh Shoukry. Agriculture contributes to one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Recognizing its crucial importance in reducing climate change, COP27 was the first of its kind to dedicate a day to agriculture and its growing influence in the battle against climate change. During the conference, Shoukry launched the Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation (FAST) initiative, a project aimed at improving the quantity and quality of climate finance contributions to transforming agriculture and food systems worldwide by 2030. The final document from COP27 agreed on “safeguarding food security and ending hunger,” calling for an increase in the necessary financial support, technology, and capacity building needed by developing countries. It also implored communities to protect themselves from climate effects by increasing and protecting available water systems.
Set against the difficult geopolitical backdrop happening globally, COP27 also resulted in countries delivering a package of decisions that reaffirmed their commitment to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. An amount just above pre-industrial levels.
The package also strengthened actions by countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change, with the final 10-page summary document, agreed on 20 November, insisting on “rapid, deep and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions” by 2030.
However, despite the success of its radical negotiations, the incessant calls to phase out fossil fuels continued to face serious blocking from oil-producing states present at the conference. Many attributed the lack of reduction in the production of fossil fuels to the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year. A crisis that led to the reshaping of High natural gas prices, and the subsequent increase in the dependence on coal energy by wealthy European countries, increasing gas emissions in these countries. Most delegates at COP27, struggling to find reasons to be cheerful as a result of this, despite the glacial pace of decarbonization globally.
Other initiatives announced at COP27 included The Sharm El-Sheik Adaptation Agenda Action on Water Adaptation and Resilience Initiative (AWARe), The Insurance Adaptation Acceleration Campaign, The Global Renewables Alliance, and The First Movers Coalition (FMC) Cement & Concrete Commitment.
Other announcements at the conference:
- Countries launched 25 new collaborative actions in five key areas: power, road transport, steel, hydrogen, and agriculture.
- The UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments published a report at COP27, serving as a guide to ensure credible net-zero pledges by industry, financial institutions, cities, and regions
- The G7 and the V20 (‘the Vulnerable Twenty’) launched the Global Shield against Climate Risks, with new commitments of over USD 200 million as initial funding. Implementation is to start immediately.
- Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Walloon Region of Belgium announced USD 105.6 million in new funding for the Global Environment Facility, stressing the need for even more support to meet the immediate climate adaptation needs of low-lying and low-income countries.
- The new Indonesia Just Energy Transition Partnership, announced at the G20 summit held in parallel with COP27, will mobilise USD 20 billion over the next three to five years to accelerate a just energy transition.
- Important progress was made on forest protection with the launch of the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership, aiming to unite action by governments, businesses, and community leaders to halt forest loss and land degradation by 2030.
Eyes are already on COP 28 to be in UAE next year. How far can we go in the battle against Climate Change? Time will tell.
