Page 6 - AsianOil Week 46 2022

AsianOil COMMENTARY AsianOil

Climate paralysis at COP27 as no

progress made on 1.5 degrees

Despite dragging on for two days extra, the summit in Egypt did not yield substantial results

GLOBAL COP finished two days late on November 20 wanted more watered down language in the final
without any new agreements on climate change agreements.
WHAT: targets or emissions reductions, although a deal “The EU is united in our ambition to move
COP27 ended with no was hammered out to set up an as yet uncosted forward and build on what we agreed in Glas-
new deal on reducing loss and damage fund. gow,” Timmermans said, “Our message to part-
emissions. The conference’s final communique reaf- ners is clear: We cannot accept that 1.5C dies
firmed the UN and governments’ desire to meet here and today.”
WHY: the 2015 Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degree goals, but Meanwhile, UK lead negotiator and president
An agreement was did not make any new agreements that are bind- of COP26 Alok Sharma was extremely critical of
hammered out to set up ing on governments on how to it. the lack of progress at COP27, suggesting that a
an as yet uncosted loss The most controversial move was the disap- whole year had been wasted.
and damnage fund. pearance of any commitment to cause emissions “The text right now does not go beyond Glas-
to peak by 2025, while there was no mention of gow and it doesn’t even take us to Glasgow,” he
WHAT NEXT: any general fossil fuel phase out. said.
There was no progress There was no progress on coal in the docu- The document said that a 43% reduction in
on coal, suggesting the ment, called a cover decision, with the COP26 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was needed by
fuel will remain a staple phrasing of a “phase down” being maintained, 2030, relative to 2019 levels, if the world was to
in some economies for while fossil fuels subsidies should be “phased meet 1.5 degrees.
longer. out,” again repeating the words of COP26 in All this, apart from the loss and damage fund,
Glasgow. is effectively a repeat of the final Glasgow deci-
On the bright side, the UN stressed that there sion, suggesting that COP27 failed to make any
was an "urgent need for deep, rapid emissions real progress and that powerful interests in Asia
cuts for 1.5C". and the Middle East again managed to stymie
The UN said in a statement: “The package (of any improved targets for coal or emissions.
decisions) strengthened action by countries to Put simply, the fight for 1.5 degrees has not
cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the yet been won and the battle must go on.
inevitable impacts of climate change, as well
as boosting the support of finance, technology Loss and damage
and capacity building needed by developing The UN stressed in its final statement that the
countries.” most significant achievement was on loss and
However, there were no high-level targets, damage.
merely a long list of reaffirmations by govern- “This outcome moves us forward,” said
ments of existing commitment made in Glasgow. Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Sec-
But the goal of 1.5 degrees is still on the retary. “We have determined a way forward on a
agenda, even though any deal on binding com- decades-long conversation on funding for loss
mitments will now have to wait until future COP and damage – deliberating over how we address
conferences. the impacts on communities whose lives and
On the final days of talks on November 19, livelihoods have been ruined by the very worst
there were broadly two camps: EU governments impacts of climate change.”
wanted a greater commitment to phasing out A new Transitional Committee is to be set up
fossil fuels and promoting renewables energy, to recommend how to implement both the new
while Asian and Middle Eastern governments funding arrangements and the fund at COP28

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 46 21•November•2022