Kick-off of COP27 to reawaken the fight for the climate

Europe 1 with AFP 12:17 p.m., November 06, 2022

The UN world climate conference opened on Sunday in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt to try to breathe new life into the fight against global warming and its impacts, for which the countries of the South are demanding financial compensation. .

"Egypt will spare no effort," said Foreign Minister Sameh Choukri, who chairs COP27.

"We must be clear, as difficult as the current moment is, inaction amounts to myopia and can only delay climate catastrophe," said the outgoing president of the previous COP in Glasgow, Alok Sharma.

This 27th UN climate conference (COP27) will bring together almost 200 countries for two weeks, at the bedside of a planet hit by disasters: historic floods in Pakistan, repeated heat waves in Europe, hurricanes, fires, droughts. .. The fight for the climate is a "question of life or death, for our security today and for our survival tomorrow", UN boss Antonio Guterres recently insisted.

The conference "must lay the foundations for faster and braver climate action now and in this decade that will decide whether the fight for the climate is won or lost," he warned.

Greenhouse gas emissions must indeed fall by 45% by 2030 to have a chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era, the most ambitious objective of the agreement of Paris.

But the current commitments of the signatory States, if they were finally respected, would lead to an increase of 5 to 10%, putting the world on a trajectory at best of 2.4°C by the end of the century.

Far from respecting the main objective of the Paris agreement of less than 2°C compared to the time when humans began to burn fossil fuels (coal, oil or gas) responsible for global warming on a large scale.

"Perfect Storm"

With current policies, a catastrophic +2.8°C is looming.

"Pitifully not up to the task", castigated Antonio Guterres, who deplores that the climate has been relegated to the background by the Covid epidemic, the war in Ukraine, the economic, energy and food crises.

"There have been perilous times before," such as the United States' exit from the Paris agreement under President Donald Trump, notes Alden Meyer of the E3G think tank.

But "I've never seen anything like it," he adds, describing a "perfect storm."

In this context, despite the commitments made at COP26, only around twenty countries have raised their targets, and the UN sees "no credible way" to meet the 1.5°C target.

More than 120 heads of state and government are expected on Monday and Tuesday for a summit that is supposed to give impetus to these two weeks of negotiations.

Without Chinese President Xi Jinping or American Joe Biden, who will quickly move on to the COP on November 11.

While cooperation is crucial between the two main global emitters of greenhouse gases with strained relations, they could however meet in Bali the following week on the sidelines of the G20.

A G20 responsible for 80% of global emissions but whose richest members are accused of not assuming their responsibilities in terms of ambition and aid to developing countries.

The resentment of the poorest countries, not responsible for global warming but on the front line of its impacts, will also be at the heart of COP27.

Greenwashing

The promise of the countries of the North to increase to 100 billion dollars per year from 2020 their aid to the countries of the South to reduce their emissions and prepare for the impacts has still not been kept.

And the South is now calling for additional funding dedicated to the "loss and damage" already suffered.

But the developed countries are very reluctant, and last year only agreed to the creation of a "dialogue" on the question, planned until 2024. They should however concede that the subject is officially on the agenda of the day in Sharm el-Sheikh and the matter could be added to the agenda.

"The success or failure of COP27 will be judged on an agreement on this loss and damage financing facility," warned Munir Akram, Pakistan's ambassador to the UN and chairman of the G77 + China, which represents more than 130 emerging and poor countries.

Agreement or not on a special mechanism to finance "losses and damages" or on a new objective to take over from 100 billion from 2025, the financing needs are counted in "billions of billions", says AFP Michai Robertson, negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis), judging that this will be impossible without the private sector.

Private sector commitments will also be in the spotlight with the publication of the report of the UN group of experts responsible for developing standards to assess the carbon neutrality objectives of companies, cities, regions or investors.

Because "our world can no longer afford greenwashing, pretense and latecomers", stressed Antonio Guterres.