At the COP27 summit, delegates from nearly 200 countries are meeting in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for talks on tackling the climate crisis.
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SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — Senior officials opened negotiations at the United Nations’ flagship climate change conference by urging wealthy countries to finally redeem their broken $100 billion pledge, while the thorny issue of reparations is raised for the first time official agenda has been set.
At the COP27 summit, which officially opened on Sunday, delegates from nearly 200 countries gather in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for talks on tackling the climate crisis.
As has been the case since the first UN climate conference in 1995, climate finance will once again play a central role.
It follows a series of mind-altering extreme weather events worldwide. For example, in recent months, a third of Pakistan has been completely inundated by historic floods, Nigeria has experienced its worst flooding in a decade and China has suffered the most intense and prolonged heatwave on record.
“I fully recognize the scale of the challenge that lies ahead,” said Alok Sharma, a British lawmaker and president of last year’s COP26, on Sunday addressing participants in the UN-brokered talks.
“We are not currently on a path that keeps 1.5 within reach. And while I understand that leaders around the world have faced competing priorities this year, we must be clear: as challenging as our present moment is, inaction is short-sighted and can only postpone climate catastrophe,” Sharma said.
“We need to find the ability to focus on more than one thing at a time. How many more wake-up calls do world leaders really need?”
“We need to find the ability to focus on more than one thing at a time. How many more wake-up calls do world leaders really need?” Sharma said at the COP27 opening ceremony.
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The 1.5 degree Celsius limit is the target temperature threshold set in the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. It is recognized as a crucial global target, as beyond this level so-called tipping points become more likely. These are thresholds where small changes can result in dramatic shifts in Earth’s entire life support system.
“I will do everything in my power to support our Egyptian friends and the UK is here to achieve ambitious results across the agenda, including on mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage,” Sharma said handing over the COP presidency to Egyptian Sameh Shoukry.
“We know we’ve reached a point where finances make or break the work program that we have ahead of us,” he added. “While I would like to highlight some of the progress that has been shown on $100 billion, I hear the criticism and agree that governments and multilateral development banks need to do more.”
Loss and damage on the agenda for the first time
Countries of the Global South will look to Egypt for reassurance that rich nations’ $100 billion climate finance pledge in 2009 to help low-income countries mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis will finally be met.
“The current mobilization of efforts raises many concerns,” Egyptian Shoukry said, according to a translation on Sunday.
“The pledge of $100 billion a year has not yet been implemented. Also, the funding currently available focuses on mitigation, not adaptation efforts — [and] Most of the funding is based on loans,” he continued.
Low-income countries already burdened with debt have repeatedly called for a shift to grant-based financing instead of more borrowing.
“I think you’ll agree with me that we don’t have the luxury of continuing like this. We need to change how we approach this existential threat,” Shoukry added.
“I think you’ll agree with me that we don’t have the luxury of continuing like this. We need to change our approach to this existential threat,” said Egyptian Sameh Shoukry.
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The push to fulfill this $100 billion funding pledge comes amid broader calls for rich countries to compensate vulnerable nations as many people find it increasingly difficult to live safely on a warming planet.
Climate reparations, sometimes referred to as “loss and damage payments,” are widely expected to dominate COP27 talks. These payments relate to the devastating effects of the climate crisis, which countries cannot defend themselves against because the risks are either unavoidable or they cannot afford it.
In fact, the topic of loss and damage finance made it officially onto the COP27 agenda for the first time. The issue was first raised by climate-vulnerable countries 30 years ago.
“We don’t want to be here demanding funding for our response to loss and damage,” said a spokesman on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, a group of 39 small islands and low-lying coastal developing countries mostly from the Caribbean and South Pacific .
“We don’t want to be treated like you’re doing us a favor by adding an agenda item or setting up a voluntary fund,” they added.
“AOSIS is here to approve the establishment of a new Loss and Damage Response Fund at COP27, operational through 2024. We are here so that we can return to our own homes and not become climate displaced in yours. “
UN sees three critical lines of action
Shoukry’s comments follow a spate of sobering reports from the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization in recent days.
The UN Environment Program said late last month that there is “no credible way” to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. A separate UN report warned that the world is “nowhere near” meeting its greenhouse gas emissions targets, with current plans predicting a 2.5 degree Celsius rise in global temperatures.
Meanwhile, the WMO said the levels of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in the Earth’s atmosphere hit record highs last year. These are the three greenhouse gases responsible for trapping heat in the atmosphere and driving global warming.
United Nations Executive Secretary for Climate Change Simon Stiell on Sunday called on climate officials from around the world to focus on three crucial lines of action at COP27. He also stressed the need for high-income nations to provide financial support to countries on the front lines of the climate emergency.
“First, we need to demonstrate this transformative shift to execution,” said Stiell. “Every angle of human activity must align with our Paris Agreement to make efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.”
“In the second line of action, we need to cement progress in these critical areas of work: mitigation, adaptation, funding and — critically — loss and damage,” said Stiell.
“Finally, as a third line of action, we must improve the implementation of the principles of transparency and accountability throughout the process.”