COP27: the question of financing at the heart of the discussions
African countries are responsible for less than 4% of global CO2 emissions while suffering the majority of the consequences of climate change.
Here, the rising waters of Lake Tanganyika submerge residential areas in Gatumba, Burundi, on March 15, 2022. © YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP
Text by: Jeanne Richard Follow
5 mins
COP27, the UN climate change conference of parties, is due to take place from November 6 to November 18, 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Throughout the year, diplomats from each country, ministers and heads of state meet regularly to continue negotiations in an attempt to reach a more ambitious climate agreement.
But the question of funding remains a point of tension.
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Once again, the promise made in 2009 - not kept - by the rich countries to release 100 billion dollars each year from 2020 to help developing countries in their ecological transition, is a source of discord.
In 2020, nearly $17 billion was still missing.
Yet this Wednesday, during a preparatory meeting for the COP with representatives of 24 African countries in Egypt, John Kerry, United States' special envoy for the climate, acknowledged "
that it is more costly not to act against the climate change than to act
”, while recognizing that “
20 countries are responsible for 80% of the problem, the United States, alone, are the second emitter (of greenhouse gases), after China
”.
Above all?
scientists agree that these 100 billion dollars are far from sufficient.
"
We don't beg
"
And earlier this week, at another summit on adaptation to climate change in the Netherlands, several African heads of state made the trip, but none from the northern countries deigned to participate.
Something to worry, even irritate African leaders.
“
The culprits of climate change are the industrialized countries.
And now they are asking us to adapt, not to follow their pollution pattern.
At the limit of not industrializing us
,” lamented Macky Sall, the President of Senegal and currently head of the African Union.
“
This money that they have to put in, we don't beg for it.
It is not a giver-receiver relationship.
This is a responsibility, assumed: those who are the polluters must pay.
They must contribute to financing adaptation programs, otherwise we will have to do like them: we turn to coal, oil, gas, etc.
And we will destroy the planet together!
»
Moussa Faki Mahamat, President of the African Union Commission also considered that the lack of involvement of the countries of the North is "
one of the most shocking injustices against the continent
", which is responsible for less than 4 % of global CO2 emissions, according to former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was also speaking this week.
At the same time,
African countries are bearing the brunt of the consequences
of climate change, including drought and floods which cause death, destruction, hunger and migration.
►
To listen: Gabon: rising sea levels, a concern of African Climate Week
Compensation for losses and damages
This year, with a COP in Egypt, on the African continent, the "
thorny
" question of international solidarity will be all the more at the heart of the discussions, therefore believes Lola Vallejo, director of the climate program at the Institute for Sustainable Development and international relations (Iddri).
"
It is not neutral that the COP is taking place in Africa in a context where there is a serious crisis of mistrust between countries of the North and countries of the South, in particular because the emblematic objective of the mobilization of 100 billion dollars was missed.
While at the same time, we have had extremely clear impacts of climate change.
Clearly, this combination will give even more importance to another theme that will be discussed during this COP, which is the issue of loss and damage.
»
The term covers all the material and human damage that occurs after a climatic disaster.
The question is who should pay to compensate for these losses.
"
It had already been a point of tension in Glasgow, it was during the intersessions and we will find them again in November at the COP,
" says Aurore Mathieu, international policy manager at the Climate Action Network, which brings together several environmental protection NGOs. 'environment.
Difficult political discussions
“
No mechanism is planned or put in place within the UN to pay once the disasters have arrived.
For example, Pakistan (after the devastating floods, editor's note), who will pay for the reconstruction?
she wonders.
“
Rich countries claim that the money put on the table for adaptation is enough, but that is not the case.
»
Civil society, NGOs and developing countries are therefore pushing for the issue of loss and damage to be an integral and lasting part of international discussions and for a dedicated fund to be set up at the next COP.
Although it remains difficult to define whether a particular weather event is a consequence of climate change and who should pay exactly, how much, and for what types of damage.
"
We want rich and developed countries to take their responsibilities and provide additional funding for these losses and damages"
adds Aurore Mathieu, for whom this would restore confidence between North and South and unblock negotiations on other points. : reducing emissions, adaptation, the transparency framework and finally effectively implementing the Paris agreements.
►
To listen: Should the West pay the bill for the deadly floods ravaging Pakistan?
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