What to Expect at the COP27

Egypt will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 in its coastal city of Sharm El-Sheik from 7 to 18 November 2022.

This year’s COP aims to be an “implementation COP” by urging action from all parties to protect people from the immediate impacts of climate change and ensuring that no one is left behind.

Speaking about the coming COP27, President-Designate and Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs H.E. Sameh Shoukry said, “We must accelerate climate action on all fronts, including mitigation, adaptation and finance, in addition to adopting more ambitious mitigation measures to keep the 1.5°C within reach. There can be no room for delay in the fulfilment of climate pledges or backtracking on hard-earned gains in the global fight against climate change. We must work together for implementation. We need to act, and act now, to save lives and livelihoods.”

COP27 will set the scene by reflecting on what occurred during the COP26 – what the conference has achieved and what has not. Moving forward, COP27 will focus on four core areas.

The Energy & Climate article, “COP27 – what can we expect?” notes that COP26 ended with the Glasgow Climate Pact – an agreement that moved some issues on while acknowledging insufficient progress on others. The Pact contained unprecedented commitments to end ‘inefficient’ fossil fuel subsidies and ‘phase down’ coal. COP26 delivered a multi-lateral agreement between nations to slash methane emissions, stop deforestation, end financing for overseas fossil fuels, and speed up the internal combustion engine’s demise. However, it made little progress in pushing for climate adaptation, delivered zero on finance for losses and damage from climate impacts, and regretted the failure of wealthy countries to deliver on climate finance pledges. The most significant commitment made by all parties was to submit updated NDCs- pledges to cut emissions before COP27. These updated NDCs, however, put the world on track to a catastrophic warming of 2.4°C and 2.7°C instead of the 1.5°C goal.”

According to the article, COP27’s success will be judged across these four core areas: Climate Mitigation, Climate Adaptation, Finance, and Loss and Damage.

Climate Mitigation

New significant pledges from India, the new Australian government, this year’s host, Egypt, and the United States with its biggest-ever climate spending package under President Biden. However, Egyptian Minister Rania Al Mashat signalled that this year’s conference would move from pledges to implementation – highlighting the practical policies and practices that will push the promises to actual action.

Climate Adaptation

“The Paris Agreement commits to a ‘global goal on adaptation’ to climate change. COP26 established a two-year programme to define it. COP27 president-designate, Sameh Shoukry, will be expected to ensure this ‘Glasgow to Sharm El-Sheikh’ programme makes progress. That will include at least establishing a shared understanding of the areas where action and funding for adapting to climate impacts are most needed.”

Climate Finance

the climate finance promise of wealthy nations to provide $100 billion a year to developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change has not been reached and is $17 billion short, according to OECD calculations. Most of the money delivered was in the form of loans and not grants.

COP27 success will rely on wealthy countries fulfilling their $100 billion financing promise. as climate change progresses and the window to reaching the 1.5°C warming limit is closing, climate action is becoming crucial.

Loss and Damage

The Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) showed that 55 nations most exposed to climate impacts have already incurred losses costing more than $500bn. A Christian Aid assessment revealed that GPD loss for the most vulnerable countries could reach 19% by 2050 and 64% by 2100 at 2.9°C of warming.

“Despite the best efforts of developing nations and civil society at COP26, the only progress was a commitment to further dialogue. Wealthy nations have slowed or actively blocked progress, fearing finding themselves on the hook for unlimited financial liabilities long into the future.”