COP27 Reflections

 The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt from 7th-20th November 2022. COP, which stands for Conference of the Parties, is one of the largest annual international summits in the world to tackle the threat of climate change. As a PhD researcher in bioenergy & circular economy at University College Cork, Ireland, I was selected by UCC to be a part of the 10-member delegation for COP27. 

Why is a global conference on climate change needed?

Our planet is warming due to the increased emissions resulting from human activities over the last 200 years. Increasing concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), etc. trap heat and increase the temperature of the planet; much like how heat is trapped inside a car with closed windows standing in the sun. This phenomenon, called global warming, and the associated climate change has numerous detrimental effects on our environment. Some of which include melting of glaciers, rising sea levels, flash floods, droughts, desertification, to name a few. These changes are happening all over the world now and are no longer a distant threat. Disasters such as floods, wildfires, heat waves in places less prone to such events are becoming common around the world. All this is happening at a global temperature rise of 1.1°C compared to pre-industrial age. Scientists report that if we continue the emissions at the same rate, global temperatures could rise by 2.5-3°C in the coming 50-70 years. That is within the lifetime of the current young generation! 

The major portion of this GHG emissions is carbon dioxide emitted from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. Developed countries have a disproportionately higher contribution to the global emissions of GHGs, both historically and at present. Developing countries like India and China also have large contributions owing to their huge populations. Most of the developing countries, which have historically contributed the least to the global emissions that cause climate change, are more likely to face its worst impacts. They also lack the resources and capacity to deal with the disasters caused by climate change. Therefore, it is only fair that the rich developed countries own the major share of responsibility to mitigate climate change. Also, developing countries need to be supported financially and technologically to tackle with climate change and move away from fossil sources of energy. All this needs multilateral agreements and cooperation between all countries of the world. The issue is complicated as each country has a different environment, its own set of challenges and interests. Strong influence of the fossil fuel industry makes it more difficult to get rid of fossil fuels. COPs are held every year to bring all countries to the table and find a way out of this wicked problem. It is utterly complicated and therefore after 27 COPs we are nowhere close to solving the problem of climate change.

What happens at COP?

The COP involves complex negotiations between 197 Parties (196 countries + European Union) to formulate the global response to climate change. It is attended by government officials, experts and representatives from the civil society invited as Observers by the UNFCCC, and global news media.

At COP27, our role as Observers was to observe the negotiations, provide inputs to the Parties, ensure transparency, raise public awareness, and enhance public access to information. First thing one would notice on attending the COP is the huge scale of the event. The two week-long COP27 was attended by over 45000 people. The COP is mostly two things - one where all the high-level negotiations take place, and the other is a hive of side events where delegates and observers interact on various aspects of climate change. As a first-timer it is easy to get overwhelmed and lost with everything that is happening at the same time. After getting my bearings in the first couple of days, I was able to divide my time between observing the negotiations and participating in the side-events. Now that I look back at it, the side events part of the COP is a grand circus, almost a distraction from what is important –holding global leaders accountable to make strong policies to tackle climate change.

Over the years, COPs have been criticised for their inefficacy in bringing about a real change, and have been blamed to provide a platform for governments and corporations to ‘greenwash’ their actions.  At the outset, COP27 in Egypt was touted to be the COP of implementation. COP27 achieved a breakthrough on the issue of ‘Loss and Damage’, which took the centre stage at the climate summit this year. Countries agreed to establish a Loss and Damage (L&D) fund to provide financial support to poor countries most vulnerable to the risk of climate change induced disasters. It is indeed commendable that L&D was finally on the official agenda after 30 years of attempts by the developing countries. However, until the last day a deal looked unlikely after being blocked by a few developed countries. While it is positive that an agreement was reached on the L&D fund in the end, it comes across as an insincere effort to get a token success story out of the COP. Operationalization of the fund is left for the years to come. Looking at the progress on the implementation of Paris Agreement signed in 2015 (which aimed to limit global warming to 2°C, preferably 1.5°C) and the failed promise of $100 billion a year in climate finance from developed countries to developing countries, hopes for a swift action on operationalization of L&D fund are low. More delay gives an opportunity for the countries that obstructed the deal in the first place to prepare for ways dampen the implementation of the fund. 

On another note, hopes for a stronger language on keeping the 1.5°C goal alive after the developments at COP26 in the UK were let down. Global GHG emissions have to be reduced by 45% by as soon as 2030 to limit the temperature rise to 1.5°C. The world is not on track to achieve this target. There were neither increased ambitions set, nor the proposal for phasing down of all fossil fuels agreed upon. Methane, which is about 25 times worse than CO2, contributes 25% to the global warming. Reducing methane emissions by 45% can help us achieve the 1.5°C goal. However, the draft decision only “invites Parties to consider reducing” methane emissions. With this lack of urgency and stringent measures to take actions, the hopes of the most vulnerable and especially the youth are largely lost and damaged.

The experience at COP27 was a mixed bag for me. While some progress was made at this COP, it is clearly not enough. The lack of urgency in taking concrete actions is disturbing. However, attending the COP was an opportunity to witness the complexity of climate negotiations first-hand, to engage with policy makers and diverse opinions from all over the world. It also gave me insights to align the relevance of my research to make it more impactful.

- Rajas Shinde

rajasshinde@gmail.com