COP27: 10 Things to Note

The UN’s COP27 climate summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh comes as nations around the world face increasingly intense natural disasters that have killed thousands and cost billions of dollars this year alone. have done.

At the opening ceremony on Sunday, COP27 officials urged governments to continue efforts to combat climate change despite the economic crisis associated with Russia’s war on Ukraine, energy shortages, rising inflation and the persistent COVID-19 pandemic.

Read also: India’s agenda in 10 points at COP27 summit | read here

“Fear takes precedence over other priorities,” Simon Steele, the UN’s top climate change official, told a news conference.

“The fear is that we lose another day, another week, another month, another year – because we can’t”, he said.

To limit global warming to 1.5 °C above the level of the end of the 19th century, the world must reduce greenhouse emissions by 45 percent by 2030.

But according to findings that have emerged in recent days, current trends will see a 10 percent increase in carbon pollution by the end of the decade and the Earth’s surface warming by 2.8C.

Only 29 of the 194 countries have submitted better climate plans, as stated at last year’s UN talks in Glasgow, Steele said.

Some 110 heads of state and government are expected to attend the two days of talks, with the notable absence of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, whose country is the world’s top emitter of greenhouse gases.

US President Joe Biden, whose country ranks second on the top-polluters list, will attend COP27 later this week after Tuesday’s midterm election that could turn Republicans in charge of Congress hostile to international action on climate change. Is.

Here are 10 things to watch out for for the climate gathering:

1. The lineup for Monday will feature major oil producers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates seeking a future role for fossil fuels; Ineffectual right-wing prime ministers of Britain and Italy wary of government excesses; And the leaders of poorly climate-sensitive countries such as Niger and Palau are eager for international funding.

2. Scores of heads of state will speak in a parade of climate speeches that will run through Tuesday, but many of the world’s biggest emitters will be abandoned until next week or are completely out of schedule.

3. US President Joe Biden will arrive next week as the newly elected President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

4. Chinese President Xi Jinping is not scheduled to attend COP27 but will have an envoy to the conference. India is not on the list, and no representative from Russia, the target of Western sanctions for its war on Ukraine, is currently on schedule.

5. Egypt has officially taken over the reins from the UK as COP host and billed the conference as one that will turn the promises made at the 2021 climate talks in Glasgow into action.

6. Delegates set a positive tone by agreeing for the first time on Sunday to add a discussion of compensating poor countries for climate damage to the agenda of the conference, something that would herald a period of difficult negotiations.

7. Other things to watch will include the WTO report, expected on Monday about the role of trade policy in climate change, and some expected announcements about forests such as climate degradation.

8. Speaking about India, the country expects substantial progress on the discussions related to climate finance and clarity on its definition, according to the Union Environment Ministry statement. PM Modi has not visited Egypt for the summit this year, although the Indian delegation will be led by Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav. At the United Nations Climate Summit, India is set to once again insist on its invitation to all countries to join the LIFE movement – ​​“Lifestyle for the Environment”, a pro-people and pro-planetary effort to help the world go through a mindless and pro-planetary effort. Wants to move from wasteful consumption. To make careful and deliberate use of natural resources.

9. Last year, at COP26 in Glasgow, thousands of protesters from around the world marched to demand “climate justice”. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg dropped COP27, slamming it as a platform for “greenwashing” and saying “the space for civil society this year is extremely limited”. On Sunday, some activists waved banners at the entrance of the summit hall, ignoring restrictions. “We are trying to promote vegetarianism to help save the planet from greenhouse gases”, said Tom Modagma, a follower of the Vietnamese “Supreme Master Ching Hai”, with colleagues waving the banner. “Be vegetarian, make peace,” they read.

10. Meanwhile, according to a new report by non-profit group Oxfam, the investments of 125 of the world’s richest billionaires result in an average of three million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, a million times more than the average for anyone . The bottom 90 percent of humanity.

(with inputs from agencies)