After prolonged negotiations, COP27 concluded with a historic breakthrough to assist more vulnerable countries to cope with losses and damages attributed the impacts of climate change.
What is COP?
The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The COP meets annually to make decisions and agree on measures to address climate change.
Why is COP so important?
COP provides an opportunity for countries to come together and collectively negotiate actions to address climate change. As the effects of climate change are already being felt in many parts of the world, COP is more important than ever in coordinating and strengthening the global response to this critical challenge.
COP27 Key Takeaways
1. Fossil fuel interests remain strong as lobbyists are not going down without a fight.
2. Funding has been established to assist countries facing damages as a result of climate change.
3. Countries reaffirmed commitments to limit global warming temperature rises to 1.5°C.
4. Adaptation progress fell considerably short of what’s needed to address accelerating climate impacts.
What were the outcomes of COP27?
The conclusion to COP27 was finally reached on the 20th of November after negotiations overran the conference slightly. The outcome has since been formally named as the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan.
Take a look at our day by day rundown of the COP27 proceedings.
COP27 Gets Underway
António Guterres made several striking statements during his speech including, “we are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator” and “humanity has a choice, cooperate or perish. It is either a climate solidarity pact or a collective suicide pact”.
While last year's event in Glasgow focused on setting targets and making agreements, this year’s summit opened with a focus on the accountability for delivering those COP26 targets and the full implementation of the Paris Agreement. The conference is focused on 4 major themes this year, including mitigation, adaptation, finance and collaboration.
UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, represented the UK as one of the 29 countries that have submitted their climate action plans. In his speech, he claimed that he is still committed to the £11.6 billion international climate fund that the Government pledged last year. He highlighted the benefits of international climate finance around the world but warned that the plan for the fund could take longer than five years as originally stated.
Adaptation & Progression
The second day of the summit had a large focus on adaptation, with leaders of developing countries speaking primarily about how wealthier nations should be financially supportive and help them to adapt to climate change and mitigate the effects. The likes of drought and flooding have had devastating impacts on developing countries, from destroying communities to spreading disease and wiping out sources of food and clean water. It has been highlighted throughout the day that wealthy nations are failing to support the vulnerable in building climate resilience and compensating for the effects.
In turn, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly confirmed the UK will donate £200 million to the African Development Bank to support African countries build climate resilience. Meanwhile, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission stated that “Team Europe is stepping up” to meet its $100bn climate finance target.
The principle of togetherness and collaboration across the globe to reach climate targets has been a consistent and important message throughout the first 2 days of COP27. It will play a pivotal role in controlling the climate crisis and will without a doubt flow throughout the event.
Finance & Climate Investment
The big discussions on the third official day of COP27 in Egyp's Sharm El-Sheikh were all around the theme of climate finance, and there does appear to have been some movement on this. Speakers emphasised that finance flows remain inadequate and that effective climate action requires investment. During the event, political and economic leaders highlighted the power of equitable international financial structures addressing global problems.
Vulnerable countries hit by hurricanes and other climate catastrophes are set to be able to defer repayments freeing up resources to fund disaster relief, as part of the new UK-led initiatives. This is part of the UK's wider commitment at COP26 to support developing countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change and for the UK to be the world's net zero-aligned financial centre.
And today, UK Export Finance has become the world's first export credit agency to offer this in its direct lending to low-income countries and small island developing states. Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, James Cartlidge, said: "Climate shocks are increasing in frequency and severity which is why we are supporting countries hit hardest. In the wake of a disaster, they face painful trade-offs between rebuilding their communities and making debt repayments."
Science, Youth & Resilience
600 fossil fuel lobbyists attended COP27 which caught the attention of protesters who called for ‘criminal fossil fuel representatives’ to be escorted from the event. Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, made the statement that ‘many Republicans believe climate change is a hoax’.
New Initiatives
Today, the Race to Resilience campaign has launched its new initiative ‘the Insurance Adaptation Acceleration Campaign’, which looks to mobilise 3,000 insurance companies over a 12-month period to best support them in covering assets that may be affected by natural disasters that come as a result of climate change. Additionally, the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) has launched a workstream, ‘Global Risk and Resilience Fellowship’, which allows leading insurers to collaborate with city leaders.
UK BEIS and Swiss Government Collaborate
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in the UK has signed to collaborate with the Swiss Government to “drive deeper tangible cooperation in research fellowships, innovation and regulatory standards in new technology sectors”.
UK politicians have also been doing the rounds today. MP Chris Skidmore, who signed the UK’s Net Zero pledge into law, has attended six of today’s events.
The Decarbonisation Challenge
“1.5℃ to stay alive”
Today, scientists have warned that as we have already warmed the planet by 1.1℃ since pre-industrial times, any rise from now must be limited to 1.5℃ by 2100, to mitigate the risk of worsened effects. They stated that if we continue as we are, the planet could warm by more than 2℃ by 2100. And if we are to take no action at all, there’s potential for rises to exceed 4℃ which would be detrimental to all life on planet Earth.
A new report by the Global Carbon Project suggested that CO₂ emissions are rapidly increasing and that there is now a 50/50 chance the world will exceed the 1.5℃ limit that was agreed upon by almost 200 countries in the Paris Agreement of 2015. The United Nations commented that progress on cutting carbon emissions has been “woefully inadequate” since the COP event last year.
Outside, a protest was staged by medical professionals from around the globe as they performed CPR on an inflatable earth, whilst others spoke about their real-life experiences of climate change on their patients. They stated what is needed is “1.5℃ to stay alive”.
President Biden’s speech
Re-entered into the Paris Agreement upon the election of President Joe Biden, the United States has been noted to have a critical role to play in the reduction of global emissions, which many were intrigued to hear about in Biden’s speech this afternoon.
In the highly anticipated speech, President Biden stated “we need to double down on our climate commitments” and had a strong focus on the role of methane. He celebrated how his Global Methane Pledge, announced last year, now had the signatures of those within the EU and over 130 other countries, which should look to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030. He commented that with methane accounting for nearly half of the net warming, reducing it will be our “best chance to keep within reach of 1.5℃ target”. Today, the US released an updated Methane Emissions Reduction Act Plan, stating how they are meeting the pledge. It includes their investment of over $20 billion in domestic methane mitigation to improve industrial equipment and regulatory actions, whereby the Environmental Protection Agency will strengthen standards on methane across sectors, particularly super-emitters.
Adaptation & Agriculture
Agriculture, forestry and land equate to 18.4% of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and require significant action in order to reduce emissions, retain productivity and adapt to the extreme weather events as a result of climate change
Adapt or starve
Developing countries produce a third of the world’s food, and yet are the most vulnerable to weather disasters caused by climate change. Goodwill Ambassador for the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Sabrina Dhowre Elba said “we need to help rural populations build their resilience to extreme weather events and adapt to a changing climate”, whilst the Regional Director of IFAD warned, “the choice is between adapting or starving”.
Funding and initiatives for farmer and food
As agriculture remains one of the most affected sectors of climate change, funding is required to build resilience and develop a sustainable food system. FAST, the Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation initiative was launched today and looks to improve climate finance to transform the farming and food systems by 2030.
With the aim to also decarbonise the sector by 2030, progress has been made in the Egypt and UK-led Agriculture Breakthrough as 13 other countries have joined to build a sustainable and resilient agriculture sector.
The First Ever Water Day
Agriculture, forestry and land equate to 18.4% of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and require significant action in order to reduce emissions, retain productivity and adapt to the extreme weather events as a result of climate change
Water scarcity
Today, Hani Sewilam, Egyptian Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources announced the launch of the Action for Water Adaptation and Resilience (AWARe) initiative, which aims to ‘catalyse inclusive cooperation to address water as a key to climate change adaptation and resilience’. In short, this means working together globally to share information, govern water, and innovate water observation and management systems to enable the analysis of the future of water and its resilience.
Aligning targets with Sustainable Development Goals
The sixth Sustainable Development Goal is to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. The United Nation’s forecasts estimate that if our current consumption of water is to continue, 1.6 billion people will lack safe drinking water by 2030, making no progress on that sixth goal. It was emphasised that countries like Africa will be vulnerable to this, particularly with the events of drought causing millions of people to suffer from starvation and poor sanitation.
The African Cities Water Adaption Fund (ACWA Fund) has been launched by the World Resource Institute (WRI) and other parties, this fund aims to finance and support implementing solutions across African cities to build resilience and adapt to the effects of climate change.
Energy in Action
European Commissioners Speech
At the opening speech of Energy Day, European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson said “energy has always been central to winning the fight against climate change. The majority of the world’s greenhouse gases are created by the production and consumption of energy, so without decarbonising our energy systems, Net Zero will remain out of reach”. In her speech, she laid emphasis on renewables, consumption and diversification in energy supplies and suppliers. Europe is well on track to reach its energy targets, reducing gas consumption by 15% and raising renewables to 45% by 2030. Spain has made good progress in the transition to renewable energy sources with a 9% growth in wind and solar generation.
Coal must fall by 90%
The International Energy Agency has warned that the use of coal must fall by 90% by 2050 in order to hit Net Zero and the 1.5℃ target. Indonesia’s coal-dependent economy has been highlighted at COP events, and today member countries, including the UK were at the G20 summit announcing the initiative that aims to help Indonesia transition to renewable sources of energy; the initiative is called the Indonesia Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).
Representing renewable energy technologies and industries is the Global Renewables Alliance, which was launched today. Collaboration across technologies, countries and industries (hydrogen, solar, wind and geothermal) was noted to be the defining element in combatting climate change and accelerating the renewable energy transition through education, data and international communications.
The Carbon Tracker has announced in their recent report that by using renewable energy sources, particularly solar and wind, we have the capabilities to produce energy that equates to more than 100 times the energy demand of the globe. The current growth rates for solar and wind are indicative of a fossil-fuel-free energy supply by 2050.
Biodivesity Day
At today's Biodiversity Day, world leaders have turned their attention to biodiversity discussions that will take place on the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and the means to mobilise global action towards the challenges to halt biodiversity loss and reduce the impacts of climate change and pollution. The day would also deal with ecosystem-based solutions and their link to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The UK's contribution to nature
The UK Government continues to drive global efforts to embrace nature to help lower global temperatures and build a sustainable future. Environmental secretary, Thérèse Coffey sets out UK support to protect the world's oceans and natural habitats, and the Government pledges £30 million to the Big Nature Impact Fund. From the 16th of November, the fund will start with private investors to help fund green projects around the country, this will include tree planting, peat restoration and water quality improvement projects.
Speaking at Biodiversity Day at COP27, Thérèse Coffey said: "Over half of the world's GDP is reliant on nature, which is why the United Kingdom put nature at the heart of our COP26 Presidency and led calls to protect 30 percent of land and ocean by 2030. We continue to demonstrate international leadership through commitments to create a natural world that is rich in plants and wildlife to tackle the climate crisis".
Solutions for Sustainability
The future for electric vehicles
The Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Declaration was launched at COP26 to accelerate the transition to newly manufactured cars and vans to be zero emission globally by 2040. Today it was announced that the Declaration now has 210 signatories, including those from manufacturers and national governments. The Accelerating To Zero Coalition was also launched today to allow collaboration between leading initiatives in delivering the ZEV Declaration goals. COP26 President, Alok Sharma said, “this coalition provides the platform for countries to go further and faster and to ensure no country is left behind.
Urban resilience
Also launched today was the Presidency initiative Sustainable Urban Resilience for the next Generation (SURGe). The initiative recognises cities as being a bit emitter of greenhouse gases that are warming the planet and to mitigate emissions, aims to unlock urban climate finance by working with banks and the private sector to build sustainable and resilient urban systems. Maimunah Mohd Sharif, United Nations-Habitat Executive Director said, “building on the commitments of the Paris Agreement and COP26, the SURGe Initiative and the Housing and Urban Development Ministerial Meeting on Cities and Climate Change give me hope that we can shift the needle towards winning the battle against climate change by fully supporting the over 11,000 cities that want to take climate action”.
