China News Agency, Beijing, November 21st, title: The United Nations Climate Change Conference has ended: What are the results?
How many questions remain unanswered?
China News Agency reporter Ruan Yulin
The twenty-seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) finally came to an end at sunset on the 20th local time after experiencing "overtime".
What resolutions have been reached at this conference?
What breakthroughs have been made?
What questions remain unresolved?
Historic progress in establishing loss and damage fund
For the first time, COP27 included the issue of loss and damage funding arrangement on the meeting agenda, but the loss and damage fund is also the most difficult issue in the negotiations of this climate conference.
Developing countries strongly called for the establishment of relevant funds. After several days of intense negotiations, representatives of various countries finally reached an agreement during the "overtime" of the General Assembly, agreeing to establish a fund mechanism to compensate for "losses and damages" caused by climate-induced disasters .
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the decision to create a loss and damage fund in a video released from the Egyptian venue.
He emphasized that "this climate conference has taken an important step towards justice" and "the voices of those on the front lines of the climate crisis must be heard."
"This is a historic progress," said Li Shuo, senior global policy advisor for Greenpeace East Asia, in an interview with a reporter from China News Agency after the conference. A compensation fund for loss and damage, on which a historic breakthrough has been achieved in the multilateral process.
Against the backdrop of the impact of global climate change this year, the decision to establish a loss and damage compensation fund is a strong response to the calls of African countries, especially climate-vulnerable countries, and a clear political signal.
Li Shuo said that it was often said that mitigation and adaptation are like "two sides of a coin" in the issue of climate change. Since then, the issue of climate change has become a "three-dimensional" issue, namely mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage.
Assembly adopts dozens of resolutions, presidency calls for implementation
During the meeting, the UN announced an action plan for the implementation of the Building Early Warning Initiative for All, which calls for an initial targeted investment of $3.1 billion between 2023 and 2027.
Other initiatives announced at COP27 include: Sharm El Sheikh Adaptation Agenda, Water Adaptation and Resilience Action Initiative, African Carbon Market Initiative, Insurance Adaptation Acceleration, Global Renewable Energy Coalition, First Actor Coalition Cement and Concrete Commitment, etc.
According to public reports, the General Assembly has adopted dozens of resolutions on the implementation and governance of the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement, and the General Assembly has also decided to initiate the establishment of a framework for global adaptation goals.
Egyptian Foreign Minister and COP27 Chair Sameh Shoukry told delegates, "I call on everyone to see these draft decisions not as mere documents, but as a collective message to the world that we The call was heeded and the right pace and direction were set for implementing the Paris Agreement and achieving its goals.
Funding commitments from developed countries remain unfulfilled Many issues remain unresolved
Funding issues have always been the core concern of developing countries. The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen has long made it clear that developed countries should contribute US$100 billion a year to support developing countries in improving their ability to cope with climate change.
Xie Zhenhua, President Xi Jinping's special representative and China's special envoy on climate change, said: "I have participated in climate change negotiations for 15 years, and I have participated in the entire negotiation process of the Paris Agreement. The basic principle of the Paris Agreement is 'common but differentiated responsibilities. 'principle. Taking into account the different national conditions and capabilities of different countries, a distinction has been made. This is the most basic principle."
Xie Zhenhua said during the meeting that on the issue of funds, the developed countries promised to spend 100 billion US dollars every year at the Copenhagen Conference in 2009. It has been 13 years and it has not been implemented until now.
Guterres stressed the need to honor the long-overdue commitment to provide developing countries with $100 billion a year in climate finance, establish a clear and credible roadmap, and double climate adaptation funding.
“Except for the key issue of loss and damage, there has been limited progress on other issues at COP27.” Li Shuo said frankly that on important issues such as mitigation, adaptation, climate finance, and energy transition, the resolutions reached at this meeting are not based on the COP26 There is a substantial increase.
While the agreement on the Loss and Damages Fund was a breakthrough for vulnerable groups at this conference, how the Loss and Damages Fund mechanism would be funded was still under discussion.
Li Shuo said that at present, the loss and damage fund is only an institutional setting, and it is more important to inject capital into this fund so that resources can be provided to help affected climate-vulnerable countries.
This meeting cannot solve all problems, and we will further intensify efforts in these areas in the future.
He said that climate action still faces many challenges, and after COP27, there is still a lot of work to be done.
(Finish)