One day at the COP - D3
US midterm elections come to COP27
John Kerry, US special envoy for the climate, at the US pavilion at COP27, November 9, 2022. REUTERS - MOHAMMED SALEM
Text by: Géraud Bosman-Delzons Follow
11 mins
The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP) has been held since Monday, November 7 in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt).
This 5th "African" COP is taking place in an international context that is not conducive to making progress in the fight against global warming, which is making its effects felt more and more frequently around the world.
Every evening, “Un jour à la COP” delivers a summary of what was said and agreed during the day of negotiations, and goes out to meet some of its players.
This Wednesday, November 9 was devoted to finance.
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With our special correspondents in Sharm el-Sheikh
The 14 most polluting sites are all oil or gas fields
declared the former American vice-president Al Gore, during the presentation of Climate Trace (read below).
AT COP TODAY
♦ The
results of the midterm elections in the United States
have been closely scrutinized in Egypt where COP27 is taking place.
The United States remains the world's second largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China.
After his election, Joe Biden had shown his desire to make the fight against climate change a priority.
Last August, the Democratic-majority US Senate passed a $370 billion climate plan, the largest investment the United States has ever seen in the fight against climate change.
But even if the Republicans win these midterm elections, domestically, that does not worry Frances Colon, a former science and environmental adviser under the Obama administration and currently a member of a Democratic think tank.
At least as far as the domestic policy of the United States is concerned.
"
Among the newly elected, there are great climate defenders, and even if the Republicans win in the end, they will not be able to go back on the climate law.
They will simply be able to slow down and antagonize the Biden administration on certain points.
»
On the international level, on the other hand, a victory for the Republicans would be more problematic according to her.
Joe Biden had promised more than eleven billion dollars in aid to developing countries to fight climate change, but so far only one billion has been approved by Congress.
“
It is very important that the Democrats are active in the coming weeks.
They have until December, before the new Congress takes office, to put the promised money on the table.
At the COP, climate advocates are therefore hoping for announcements when Joe Biden comes, scheduled for Friday.
(By
Jeanne Richard
)
♦ “
The climate crisis isn't just threatening our infrastructure, our economies or our security – it's threatening every aspect of our daily lives
,” warned US climate envoy John Kerry.
“
President Biden is more determined than ever to continue what we are doing
”, regardless of the outcome of the vote, and recognizes his country’s “
special responsibility
” towards developing nations, he assured.
♦ Wall Street's largest banks continue to finance extractive energies.
Rainforest Action Network, an environmental defense organization,
published some figures on Wednesday
: the 60 largest banks in the world have invested 1.3 billion dollars in companies linked to fossil industries;
since the Paris agreements, the six largest American banks have financed to the tune of 445 billion dollars companies which have developed oil, gas or coal activities in the world.
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, six banks which have nevertheless joined the Net Zero Banking Alliance.
Among their major clients, Rainforest Action Network points to Exxonmobil, BP and Shell, which have developed new fossil fuel projects in recent years.
"
Billions need to be invested in a just transition, not in the endless expansion of fossil fuels by polluters and their short-term profits
,” said April Merleaux, head of research for Rainforest Action Network.
(By
Charlotte Cosset
).
♦ Accelerating the implementation of green projects in Africa is the objective of the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa, AGIA.
Launched this Wednesday by the African Union, African and European development banks, it will select projects to make them bankable.
The method is a drastic selection of projects upstream so that they are really financed and that they involve the private sector, explains Alain Ebobissé, CEO of Africa 50, the partner investment platform.
"
Today in Africa, there are many institutions that have money to invest in projects, but there are not enough well-prepared projects to receive these funds.
With Agia, we will raise a lot of money for the preparation and development of projects, but above all we will focus on their selection, which we will deliver quickly.
One of the objectives is to be different in the speed of execution of projects because we need to show results.
»
Part of the 500 million dollars mobilized by this alliance will therefore be devoted to the study of projects: electric mobility, supply of drinking water and irrigation, and above all energy: decentralized electrical networks, electricity transmission, solar projects, wind power, geothermal… but also gas-fired power stations, the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa claiming the use of this fossil energy as transition energy.
(By
Claire Fages
)
♦ A new emissions monitoring tool, the Climate Trace, was presented on Wednesday.
It evaluates, in particular using satellite data, the emissions of more than 72,000 sites around the world, in different sectors, heavy industry, energy production, agriculture, transport, waste or even the mining industry.
Driven by a “coalition” of research laboratories, companies, NGOs, and initially funded by a donation from Google, Climate Trace uses artificial intelligence processes to collect and analyze large amounts of data.
They come in particular from 300 satellites, more than 11,000 physical sensors and various databases, explained two of its founders, including the former American vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore.
"
The 14 most polluting sites are all oil or gas fields, the Permian
basin (shale oil basin in Texas, United States)
being the first in the world
", explained the latter.
All the data is accessible free of charge, in particular via an interactive map (climatetrace.org/map), with the objective "
of increased transparency, cooperation and accountability in favor of climate action
", a said Al Gore.
“
With new data
(collected by Climate Trace)
on methane and flaring we estimate that actual emissions are three times higher than reported
” by these fossil fuel extraction sites.
"
The 500 most polluting sites emit more per year than the United States
(second largest polluter in the world)
and 51% of these emissions come from power plants
", further detailed Al Gore.
(AFP)
BEHIND THE SCENES IN IMAGE.
Meeting rooms: “
There is the informal and the informal informal
”
Within the confines of a COP, there are several zones.
The most “important” is the blue, the official space administered by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
This is where negotiations between country delegations take place.
Heads of delegations, State Councillors, scientists, climate experts and all related fields (energy, industry, biodiversity, oceans, etc.) meet there.
Many will meet in large meeting rooms where topics are discussed.
Representatives of NGOs as well as companies also have a voice in the chapter, because they are part of the nine actors recognized by the Framework Convention.
Among them, the fossil fuel lobbies, which formed the largest delegation at the last COP with 503 people,
as revealed by Global Witness
.
These areopagus which prepare the world to come are not open to everyone, even less often to the press.
We attempt an infiltration in the room.
White cabbage: a UN security officer winces, sorry, a refusal of passage.
It is therefore at the doors of room 12 that we exchange with Hubert Martinie Garcia, a young Franco-Dominican assistant negotiator, trilingual, from the delegation of the Dominican Republic.
"
It's the delegates who decide who comes in or not,
" he explains.
It depends on whether the presence of observers or of the press is beneficial to the ongoing discussion.
" Eyes drawn by a long journey embellished with the loss of his luggage on arrival, he sighs: "
This one left to last three hours, it's long.
»
The meeting is said to be “informal”, that is to say more formal than “informal informal” meetings, but not hyper formal either.
In the first, the secretariat of the theme of the meeting is present, the discussions are more agreed and more general.
In the seconds, the atmosphere can be more “
tense
” but remains “
respectful
”, observed the apprentice Caribbean diplomat.
“
It's more technical, we go deeper into things.
North-South relations, marked by a mistrust that grows from COP to COP, are also woven in these places.
"
The countries of the South will be sensitive to subjects whose interpretation may vary.
Human rights, for example, can be a delicate subject if they are not formulated as formulated in the Paris Agreement, and therefore accepted by everyone.
Those in the North are very sensitive to the notion of responsibility and to everything related to the payment of direct money
,” he explains, taking care to choose his words carefully.
The importance of reaching diplomatic agreements to lay the foundations for dialogue and mutual understanding.
Hubert Martinie Garcia is experiencing his first COP and finds it "
brilliant
".
"
We discover how the representatives talk to each other, push their interests and reach an agreement
".
It is then “
the best moment of the day.
We feel part of the change, even if it is small.
»
Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, a long-time negotiator for the Democratic Republic of Congo, knows the endless days in the blue zone well: “
The negotiations are taking place in several rooms at the same time.
You have to have a good relay with the other negotiator colleagues to ensure that in a room, an evolution on a theme can be reflected in the theme of the room where you are also.
Same thing in case of blocking.
»
Thus, the more members and experts a country has in its delegation, the more influence it will have in the negotiations.
“
Developed countries are generally extremely well coordinated, for example the 27 countries of the European Union,
” continues the man who now chairs a scientific and technological advisory body for the COP
.
This is why we are not committing ourselves as DRC alone because we would be overwhelmed very quickly.
We are trying to advance our positions within the different groups of countries to which we belong: the African group, the groups of less developed countries, the group of States holding humid tropical forests, the group of 77 + China.
»
THEY MAKE THE COP.
Meeting with... Alpha Oumar Kolega
A fine connoisseur of the mysteries of climate finance, he is regional advisor to the Green Fund for Africa and negotiator for the Africa Group, for which he is the spokesperson for “loss and damage”.
With him, we go back to the basics: what is the Green Fund and what is it for?
What does a trading day look like?
Answers here.
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