For the first time on the official agenda the thorny issue of providing compensation to poor countries for the damages they suffer due to global warming.
Leaders from around the world are meeting today and tomorrow in the resort of Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt to attend the UN Climate Conference (COP27) with the aim of strengthening their commitments to tackle global warming and help the poorest countries most affected by climate change.
Some 110 heads of state and government are expected to take the floor, as the world’s crises mount: the invasion of Ukraine, soaring inflation and the threat of recession, the energy crisis that is sending the planet spinning again to fossil fuels, the food crisis.
All these challenges risk taking a backseat to climate change, the devastating effects of which will be acutely felt in 2022: devastating floods, heat waves, droughts.
The summit will be held with two notable absentees: Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden, who will make a brief appearance in Sharm el-Sheikh on November 11, following the November 8 US midterm elections>
Cooperation between China and the US, the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, is critical to tackling climate change.
Xi and Biden may meet next week in Bali on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
Retreat
“All crises are important, but none has such an impact” as climate change, the consequences of which “will worsen”, said Simon Steele, head of UN-Climate, yesterday Sunday during the official opening of COP27.
However, countries are far from doing what is necessary to tackle global warming.
Greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by 45% by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the ambitious goal of the Paris Climate Agreement.
But even if the countries that have signed the Agreement respect their commitments, greenhouse gas emissions will increase by 5% to 10%, which means that in the best case the temperature on Earth will rise by 2.4 degrees Celsius as the end of the century.
And with current policies the most likely scenario is a rise of 2.8 degrees Celsius, according to the UN.
An indication of the “backsliding” many say they fear is the fact that just 29 countries submitted plans after the 2021 COP to further reduce greenhouse gases, although all had adopted an “agreement” calling for them to do so.
Another burning issue is the provision of aid to poor countries, which are most exposed to the effects of climate change, although they contribute very little to it.
Yesterday representatives of the countries participating in COP27 agreed to include for the first time in the official agenda of the conference the thorny issue of providing compensation to poor countries for the damages they suffer due to global warming.
No concrete decision is expected to be made during COP27, with discussions continuing into 2024.
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