COP27 in Egypt: Climate emergency, net zero emissions and climate finance dominate inauguration day

The year 2022 witnessed devastating floods, unprecedented heat waves, severe droughts and formidable storms in different parts of the world. With such unequivocal signs of the unfolding climate emergency, this year’s Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is taking place against the backdrop of inadequate ambition to curb greenhouse gas emissions and will aim to fully implement the promise of the Paris Agreement. The 27th edition of the conference is being held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt and is scheduled between 6-18 November, 2022.

According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall, CO2 emissions need to be cut 45 per cent by 2030, compared to 2010 levels to meet the central Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

During the opening session of the event, Simon Stiell, Executive Sectary, UN Climate Change, said, “With the Paris Rulebook essentially concluded thanks to COP26 in Glasgow last year, the litmus test of this and every future COP is how far deliberations are accompanied by action. Everybody, every single day, everywhere in the world, needs to do everything they possibly can to avert the climate crisis. COP27 sets out a new direction for a new era of implementation: where outcomes from the formal and informal process truly begin to come together to drive greater climate progress — and accountability for that progress.”

Stiell asked governments to focus on three critical areas at COP27. The first is a transformational shift to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and putting negotiations into concrete actions. The second is cementing progress on the critical workstreams of mitigation, adaptation, finance and loss and damage while stepping up finance notably to tackle the impacts of climate change. The third is enhancing the delivery of the principles of transparency and accountability throughout the UN Climate Change process.

All the leading nations will be participating in this year’s COP27, and the Indian delegation will be led by Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, who will focus on action in climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building. At last year’s COP26, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his now-famous pledge that India will transition to net zero emissions.

Just days before COP27, UN Climate Change released a report that showed that countries are bending the curve of global greenhouse gas emissions downward, but at the same time, it underlines that these efforts remain insufficient to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. However, the report also acknowledges that the combined climate pledges of 193 Parties under the Paris Agreement could put the world on track for around 2.5 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century.

Also read: India to focus on climate finance, tech transfer at COP 27, delegation to be led by Minister Bhupender Yadav