What Is COP27?

COP 27 refers to the annual climate summit attended by all members of the UN Climate Change treaty. In 2022, this is taking place in the resort city of Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt as from November 6^th to 18^th.

The summit comes hot on the heels of COP26, the pivotal meet that took place last year in Glasgow. It takes place in quite a crucial year, 2022, because of events in the international space. There are tensions around global energy supply and the effect on energy security which underpins economic development and stability for many countries.  Also there are shocks in food supply chains and disruptions in the manufacture of products such as fertilizers.

Significantly, climate related events have grabbed world headlines in negative ways this year. COP27 comes on the backdrop of intense floods that covered well over 30% of Pakistan and caused massive damage, the floods in Nigeria, and the scorching heat waves in Europe of which this year’s summer was the hottest in half a millennium.

The Egyptian Presidency has announced its four fold agenda that is: mitigation, adaptation, climate finance and collaboration

The COP27 logo - image courtesy

The tagline is ‘Together For Implementation.’ COP 27 is an implementation cop whose focus is on actual methods and vehicles to realize the decisions arrived last year and beforehand. It will focus on deliverables and actions meant to actualize pledges from being words to action on the ground.

It is also meant to enhance global partnerships and working together in the exchange of knowledge, expertise to improve action at the national level.

Some of the issues ahead of this conference include enhanced ambition for climate mitigation. Mitigation refers to cutting of greenhouse gas emissions. The IPCC in its working group III report noted that we need ‘immediate and deep cuts across all sectors.’ This body of scientists produce science based reports that guide policy on climate change at the international level. Last year, the aim of the Glasgow Pact was to limit temperature rise this century to just within 1.5 degrees this century above preindustrial levels. This was achieved just slightly, with calls for all nations to submit updated and vastly more strengthened nationally determined contributions towards this goal in 2022. This was because as part of the five year cycle for new submissions, the climate documents by nations last year fell far short of the goal and in fact would result to an increase of 16% of ghgs by 2030 compared to 2010.

The IPCC chair when launching their report said that even if the world does achieve these crosscutting deep emissions, we will slightly spike past the 1.5 degree goal and then come back down later. Given this situation, nations are therefore urged to cut emissions as a matter of survival. Of note is that the richest few countries are responsible for the outsized climate damage that we are seeing today. In fact, the G20 is responsible for three quarters of global greenhouse emissions and the wealthiest 1 percent accounting for more emissions that than half of the world’s economically low population. The thrust of these talks therefore is to make these countries take responsibility and cut their emissions which will go a long way in global climate ambition. As they show the way, the rest of the world will also cut emissions as outlined in the national climate plans of each country.

The second topic will be adaptation. One of the outcomes of last year’s meet was the work program on the global goal on adaptation, which was to continue at Sharm-el-Sheikh. Because the world is already warming and in the foreseeable future as well, adaptation becomes a crucial highlight because impacts of climate change are already being felt worldwide yet this is most pronounced in countries that have little capacity to fight back. Since the inception of climate deliberations in 1994, the focus has been on mitigation and rightly so, but more needs to be done on adaptation. The Egyptian presidency talks about enhancing adaptation at national levels. To do this, international cooperation towards capacity building and technical expertise is needed to increase the ability of communities and the natural world to withstand vagaries of climate change and be resilient.

Loss and damage is a particular issue of grave importance at the COP. Loss and damage is what occurs beyond adaptation. An example would be the massive death of livestock and looming hunger facing communities in the horn of Africa, because of the worst drought in 40 years which is strongly linked to climate change. These innocent people have little to do with causing climate change yet suffer the most for it. Such events like droughts or floods or even sea level rise greatly impact communities and have consequential repercussions of human health, nutrition and food security, national security and can cause economic shocks. The issue is simply that there should be financial reparations to deal with this real life impacts which threaten the integrity and livelihoods of entire communities and nations. Therefore there should be a loss and damage financial facility to cater for this. Recognizing this, both Scotland and Denmark led the way and have made the first of their kind financial pledges towards this.

Which brings me to the next issue which is climate finance. The truth is resources are needed for every area of action, be it mitigation, adaptation or loss and damage. For both adaptation and loss and damage, the countries hit most are unable to cope, partially because of the economic downturn caused by the health crisis that affected the globe, and the war between Russia and Ukraine which has caused a spike in inflation with the price of goods and commodities shooting skywards. Interest rates have shot up and debt repayments have been further affected as a result. Developing countries have argued and rightly so that climate finance should be in concessional terms or grants and not loans, and that this finance should be increased. The structure of climate finance is that it’s channeled through regional banks and the funds under the financial mechanism, but there are many problems with this.

 First, offering loans for climate finance is actually morally wrong, because developing nations go through climate disasters that are not of their making and then have to take out loans and pay for them to deal with this. So in reality, they pay double for what is not their fault. Additionally, the disbursement and distribution systems of climate finance are shrouded in lack of clarity and are too often dense and convoluted with too many processes and obstacles. In the end, very little actually reaches the intended recipients and serves the purpose on the ground. Concurring with this, Egypt urges the West to deliver on the 100 billion dollars per year goal as agreed previously. Furthermore, we need commitments already given to be met, and innovation and new partnerships towards climate finance. That is, implementation of financial pledges. Countries are urged to increase adaptation financing to at least half of all flows, from the levels it is currently at.

The issue of a just transition to a low carbon pathway will also be discussed. For climate action goals to be successful, it needs widespread acceptance and inclusivity in all sectors. That is businesses and communities, nations and non-state actors all need to be involved. In this respect, people and especially the most affected need to have their welfare considered. Moving from fossil fuels will result to a loss of about 5 million jobs which can quickly be compensated by the renewable energy sector, in fact ending with a surplus of about 9 million new jobs (source: IRENA). These workers and communities reliant on the fossil fuel sector need to be absorbed and supported without jeopardizing their source of income and livelihoods. Climate action should be wholesome and holistic, aiming to increase or maintain economic prosperity and not increase poverty. For example measures to reduce emissions from land should not negatively impact women and girls, therefore worsening gender inequality; or reduce the access of communities reliant on environment to the natural resources on which they depend.

All the above is underpinned by the larger issue of climate justice, because increasing greenhouse gas emissions are the cause of the climate impacts disproportionately hitting rather innocent countries who are the least responsible. Therefore cutting emissions becomes an issue of human rights, because entire nations elsewhere are affected by emissions produced primarily by rich countries. Both mitigation and adaptation as well as loss and damage need finances, to help pay for the costs of growing economies in a green manner, adapt to a changing climate and deal with the effects that cause significant damage to the quality of life and enjoyment of human rights by different communities globally.

At the COP, more of the technical rules for implementation of carbon markets under Article 6 will be hashed out.

COP 27 has days dedicated to different themes in the climate arena encompassing energy, finance, youth and future generations, gender, biodiversity, water, decarbonization, adaptation and agriculture, science, civil society and climate education and finally the last day focuses on solutions.

Interestingly, energy contributes to 75% of greenhouse gas emissions, and earlier mentioned shocks have been a much welcomed boon for renewable energy development while a slight percentage opted to dig deeper into fossil fuels.

There are valid concerns about gender representation at the conference. Its predecessors were in the limelight for the wrong reasons of a very limited number of women delegates. For climate action to be successful, women and girls must have a seat at the table and be part of making decisions that will affect their lives and communities. This is the same for youth, indigenous peoples and local communities. Most decisions should be bottom up not just top down. Those who are directly affected by climate change; the ordinary person, those who depend and take care of the environment, should be a part from the get go. This is also the reason why arguments have been put forth that resources, technical expertise and initiatives should be directly channeled to the grassroots level and not through big organizations.

Another issue is the preparations for the global stock take which will take place in 2023. This process looks at the progress and direction of the whole world in regards to climate change. The Talanoa Dialogue on the same puts this as evaluating where we are, where we are headed to and how to get there.

This COP is an opportunity to enhance cooperation on implementation of climate change decisions. Already, the ways to cut emissions and act on climate already exist. What is needed is the political will and actual enhanced action on the ground. These negotiations in effect looks at making this a reality.

The outcomes of COP27, alongside the final copy of the sixth assessment report by the IPCC will influence the direction of COP28 in Dubai, UAE, in 2023.

As an African COP, and the presidency being a member of the African Group of Nations, it shines a light on the challenges faced by the continent as well as the resilience and innovation, and the opportunities to be found in the more than 1.2 billion people of the 54 countries that call the thriving continent home. It gives a voice and a stage to the rightful agitations of the activists, communities and nations who are the forefront of the climate fight and who when given the right tools and response are able to turn the tables and not only become resilient, but also make the best of climate change.