FST JOURNAL

The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 closed with what has been described as a ‘breakthrough agreement to provide loss and damage’ funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters.

Set against a ‘difficult geopolitical backdrop’ as the UN described it, COP27 resulted in countries delivering a package of decisions that reaffirmed their commitment to limit global temperature rise to 1.5˚C above pre-industrial levels. The package also strengthened action by countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change, as well as boosting the support of finance, technology and capacity building needed by developing countries.

On the loss-and-damage agreement, Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary said: “We have determined a way forward on a decades-long conversation on funding for loss and damage – deliberating over how we address the impacts on communities whose lives and livelihoods have been ruined by the very worst impacts of climate change.”

A ‘transitional committee’ will be set up to make recommendations on how to operationalise both the new funding arrangements and the fund itself at COP28 in 2023.

COP27 saw significant progress on adaptation, with governments agreeing on the way to move forward on the Global Goal on Adaptation, which is due to conclude at COP28 and inform the first Global Stocktake, improving resilience amongst the most vulnerable. New pledges, totalling more than $230 million, were made to the Adaptation Fund. COP27 President Sameh Shoukry announced the Sharm el-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda, enhancing resilience for people living in the most climate-vulnerable communities by 2030. The UN Climate Change Standing Committee on Finance was requested to prepare a report on doubling adaptation finance for consideration at COP28.

Transformation

The headline output, known as the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan, highlights that a global transformation to a low-carbon economy is expected to require investments of at least $4-6 trillion a year. Delivering such funding will require a swift and comprehensive transformation of the financial system and its structures and processes, engaging governments, central banks, commercial banks, institutional investors and other financial actors.

Serious concern was expressed that the goal of developed country parties to mobilise jointly $100 billion per year by 2020 has not yet been met, with developed countries urged to meet the goal, and multilateral development banks and international financial institutions called on to mobilise climate finance.

At COP27, deliberations continued on setting a ‘new collective quantified goal on climate finance’ in 2024, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries.

The World Leaders Summit, held over two days during the first week of the conference, convened six high-level roundtable discussions. The discussions highlighted solutions – on themes including food security, vulnerable communities and just transition – to chart a path to overcome climate

challenges and to provide the finance, resources and tools to effectively deliver climate action at scale.

COP27 brought together more than 45,000 participants, including indigenous peoples, local communities, cities and civil society, as well as young people and children, showcasing how they are addressing climate change and sharing how it impacts their lives.

Young people

Young people in particular were given greater prominence at COP27, with UN Climate Change’s Executive Secretary promising to urge governments not just to listen to the solutions put forward by young people, but to incorporate those solutions in decision and policy making. Young people made their voices heard through the first-of-its-kind pavilion for children and youth, as well as the first-ever youth-led Climate Forum.

In parallel with the formal negotiations, the Global Climate Action space at COP27 provided a platform for governments, businesses and civil society to collaborate and showcase their real-world climate solutions. The UN Climate Change High-Level Champions held a two-week programme of more than 50 events. This included a number of major African-led initiatives to cut emissions and build climate resilience, and significant work on the mobilisation of finance.

Simon Stiell reminded delegates in the closing plenary that the world is in a critical decade for climate action. A stark report from UN Climate Change underpinned his remarks, as well as discussions throughout the two-week conference. According to the report, implementation of current pledges by national governments put the world on track for a 2.5°C warmer world by the end of the century. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates that greenhouse gas emissions must decline 45% by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

https://unfccc.int/cop27