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bne December 2022 Companies & Markets I 31
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Climate paralysis at COP27 as no progress made on 1.5 degrees
Richard Lockhart in Edinburgh
COP finished two days late on November 20 without any new agreements on climate change targets or emissions reductions, although a deal was hammered out to set up an as yet uncosted loss and damage fund.
The conference’s final communique reaffirmed the UN and governments’ desire to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degree goals, but did not make any new agreements that are binding on governments on how to it.
The most controversial move was the disappearance of any commitment to cause emissions to peak by 2025, while there was no mention of any general fossil fuel phase out.
There was no progress on coal in the document, called a cover decision, with the COP26 phrasing of a “phase down” being maintained, while fossil fuels subsidies should be “phased out,” again repeating the words of COP26 in Glasgow.
On the bright side, the UN stressed that there was an "urgent need for deep, rapid emissions cuts for 1.5C".
The UN said in a statement: “The package (of decisions) strengthened action by countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change, as well as boosting the support of finance, technology and capacity building needed by developing countries.”
However, there were no high-level targets, merely a long list of reaffirmations by governments of existing commitment made in Glasgow.
But the goal of 1.5 degrees is still on the agenda, even though any deal on binding commitments will now have to wait until future COP conferences.
On the final days of talks on November 19, there were broadly two camps: EU governments wanted a greater commitment to phasing out fossil fuels and promoting renewables energy, while Asian and Middle Eastern governments wanted more watered down language in the final agreements.
“The EU is united in our ambition to move forward and build on what we agreed in Glasgow,” Timmermans said, “Our
COP27 President Sameh Shoukry ends COP27 / Kiara Worth, UNFCCC
message to partners is clear: We cannot accept that 1.5C dies here and today.”
Meanwhile, UK lead negotiator and president of COP26 Alok Sharma was extremely critical of the lack of progress at COP27, suggesting that a whole year had been wasted.
“The text right now does not go beyond Glasgow and it doesn’t even take us to Glasgow,” he said.
The document said that a 43% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was needed by 2030, relative to 2019 levels, if the world was to meet 1.5 degrees.
All this, apart from the loss and damage fund, is effectively a repeat of the final Glasgow decision, suggesting that COP27 failed to make any real progress and that powerful interests in Asia and the Middle East again managed to stymie any improved targets for coal or emissions.
Put simply, the fight for 1.5 degrees has not yet been won and the battle must go on.
Loss and damage
The UN stressed in its final statement that the most significant achievement was on loss and damage.
“This outcome moves us forward,” said Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary. “We have determined a way forward on a decades-long conversation on funding for loss and damage – deliberating over how we address the impacts on communities whose lives and livelihoods have been ruined by the very worst impacts of climate change.”
A new Transitional Committee is to be set up to recommend how to implement both the new funding arrangements and the fund at COP28 next year. However, there was no mention of how much sash the fund would contain.
The good news is that the loss and damage fund will take on the recommendations of the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage, which lay out what developing countries need to repair the adverse effect of climate change that have already happened, such as floods, droughts, poor harvests, rising sea levels and extreme weather.
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