More ambitious climate goals, reconstruction funds, new financing instruments for the most vulnerable and most indebted countries:COP27 kicks off in Egypt

The weekly round-up on the climate crisis and data on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

The world is racing "on the highway that leads straight to climate hell with its foot pressed on the accelerator". He didn't mince words the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, on the opening day of the United Nations Climate Conference which is being held this year in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to define the gravity of the situation facing the planet and give meaning the urgency of the actions to be taken.Looming in the background are the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, the rising cost of living and growing global tensions.

“We need a climate solidarity pact between developed and emerging economies:either they work together to make a historic deal that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and put the world on a low-carbon path, or we will have failure, which will mean climate collapse and catastrophe,” Guterres added.“It is above all up to the United States and China to make this pact concrete.In these fifteen days we can sign a climate solidarity pact or a collective suicide pact."An image, that of collective suicide, already used in the past by the Secretary General of the United Nations, to describe the crossroads on the edge of the abyss in front of which we find ourselves as humanity.

Practically speaking, writes Ferdinando Cotugno on Twitter, “Guterres asked for a system early warning universal for extreme events, to be developed in five years all over the world (ambitious and beautiful idea).As a politician, he gave full support to the "loss and damage" cause (we had talked about it here)” that “We can no longer sweep under the carpet”.

“Choose life over death, this is no time for moral cowardice,” he commented the former vice president of the United States Al Gore, echoing in some ways the words of Guterres.

The first two days saw speeches from over 100 heads of state and government from around the world (including the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni), who will then pass the baton to officials and ministers for the remaining fifteen days of talks.The conference promises to be difficult and full of obstacles, with little chance of a breakthrough.

One of the central themes is that, as mentioned, of "losses and damage", placed on the agenda for the first time in a COP.The devastating floods that they hit Pakistan and the effects of heat waves and drought in the Mediterranean they are still there for all to see.Developing countries are asking for greater responsibility on the part of the richest and most polluting nations and above all new financing schemes to be able to escape from the spiral of debt and rebuild after the damage caused by climate change.

Which countries are historically responsible for climate change? #COP27

We took a look in this detailed @CarbonBrief analysis

We looked at CO2 from fossil fuels & land since 1850
We also considered per capita totals & emissions embodied in trade

THREADhttps://t.co/20xX6yPqwQ pic.twitter.com/P1C07UR8YE

— Simon Evans (@DrSimEvans) November 8, 2022

Egyptian President Abel Fattah al-Sisi, in his opening speech at the summit, also focused on the issues of justice and climate finance:“The intensity and frequency of climate disasters have never been higher, across the four corners of the world, bringing waves of suffering to billions of people.Isn't it time to put an end to this suffering?”

Read also >> Who pays for the climate disaster?

“Africa should not pay for crimes it did not commit,” said Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera, adding that rich nations are responsible for the climate crisis.Kenyan President William K.Ruto declared that “climate change directly threatens the lives, health and future of our people”.Kenya is choosing not to use many of its "dirty energy" resources, even though it could help its finances, and has instead opted for cleaner fuels, the Kenyan president added.Loss and damage “are our daily experience and the nightmare of millions of Kenyans and hundreds of millions of Africans.”

The words of the President of the Seychelles, Wavel John Charles Ramkalawan, are illustrative:“Like other islands, our contribution to the destruction of the planet is minimal.Yet we are the ones who suffer the most."

The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, he asked a massive overhaul of international development loans and a 10% tax on fossil fuel companies, which have made “$200 billion in profits over the past three months.”Mottley called for unlocking $5 billion in private sector savings to stop planet-warming gas emissions, but this, he added, requires a change in attitude in developed countries:“This world still looks too much like it did when it was made up of empires and colonies.We need to open our minds to different possibilities."

“There is no need to repeat the horror and devastation that has befallen this Earth over the last 12 months, since we met in Glasgow,” the Barbados Prime Minister warned.“Whether it's the apocalyptic floods in Pakistan or the heat waves from Europe to China, whether it's the last few days in my region, the devastation caused in Belize by Tropical Storm Lisa or the torrential floods of a few days ago in Saint Lucia".

“In the struggle for life on Earth, no one is a spectator,” said Jordan's King Abdullah.“Every contribution is important.COP27 brought us together to pool forces and defend our position.We are at the beginning of a long, challenging and urgent transformation."

Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, the first country to offer loss and damage funds last year, pledged an additional $5.7 million, bringing Scotland's total commitment to $7.7 million.Ireland has also pledged $10 million to the cause while the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has supported the idea of ​​funding losses and damages for the first time.

It is clear that current climate finance is nowhere near what is needed, writes Carbon Brief.To phase out fossil fuels and protect their citizens from worsening climate disasters, developing countries need trillions of dollars.However, it is unlikely that these talks will lead to a final agreement.On the contrary, writes Somini Sengupta on New York Times, frustration and distrust among leaders are high.If government leaders do not understand that global warming is a multiple crisis and everything is interconnected, we will not have much hope for change, he declared former UN climate secretary Patricia Espinosa.“I wouldn't be so optimistic,” Espinosa said.So far, rich polluting countries, including the United States and the European Union, have resisted the establishment of new financial instruments, fearing a dramatic increase in their liabilities.And, in any case, he adds Lou Del Bello in his newsletter, even if a new financial instrument for loss and damage is approved, it will take years before the first dollar reaches its destination.

According to one study by Climate Action Tracker, an independent research group, none of the world's largest emitters - China, the United States, the European Union and India - have reduced their emissions sufficiently to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.Together, the three countries plus the European bloc account for more than half of the historic emissions of planet-warming gases.The United States is the largest historical emitter, China the largest current emitter.Their policies have a huge impact on the future of the Earth's climate.

The other themes of the Conference in Egypt

In addition to the issue of loss and damage and climate finance, other topics will be at the center of COP27.One of the biggest problems the parties will face it's the gap between the commitments undertaken by the various countries and the extent of the emissions cuts necessary to meet the objectives set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.During the COP in Egypt, decisions are expected to be made on what was agreed a year ago in Glasgow, where the parties had reached an agreement to establish a new "work program" on mitigation (i.e. the reduction of emissions).Meanwhile, some nations are highlighting the importance of new, stronger climate plans.The Glasgow Pact "requested" all countries to "review and strengthen their 2030 targets", but few have done so despite the deadline being the end of 2022.

An important process to keep an eye on, which may not lead to great results in this COP, explains Carbon Brief, is the global inventory, a periodic review mechanism included in the Paris Agreement and designed to examine the state of implementation of the commitments made and the collective progress made.The inventory will be broadly organized around the themes of mitigation, adaptation and how much climate finance has actually been allocated to these actions.However, its detailed scope is still flexible and can be determined by individual countries.Parties are interested in ensuring that the inventory includes the measures of progress they prefer, whether it is the gap in adaptation finance, the remaining carbon budget or the achievement of pre-2020 climate goals for countries developed.The inventory is expected to be rolled out over the next two years and is intended to inform ambitious new NDCs, although it is not yet clear how this will proceed.

Limitations on demonstrations by climate activists

At most UN climate summits, activists and protesters play a key role.However, Egypt cracks down on dissent and its prisons are filled with political prisoners.Sisi's government has promised that the voices of climate activists will be heard, but their activities have been limited, with protesters held at a separate site and forced to register in advance to obtain permission for even smaller demonstrations.A few days before the start of the Conference, Egyptian security forces arrested almost 70 participants mobilisations for the climate.

Meanwhile, the country's most notorious political prisoner, Alaa Abd El Fattah, jailed for most of the past nine years for his criticism of the country's authoritarian government, intensified his hunger strike starting Sunday, at the start of the conference, even starting to refuse water.When her sister, Sanaa Seif, called for her release during a speech at the conference, a ruling party politician, Amr Darwish, shouted at her from the audience, only to be escorted out by UN security officers.

How Belize is reducing its debt by fighting global warming

After the pandemic, Belize faced its worst recession ever, bringing the government to the brink of bankruptcy.A solution for the ascent, however, came from an innovative proposal presented by a local marine biologist to Prime Minister Johnny Briceño:his nonprofit would lend the money needed to pay creditors if his government agreed to spend some of the savings this deal would generate to preserve marine resources.For Belize, this meant preserving its oceans, endangered mangroves and vulnerable coral reefs.The resulting deal, known as a blue bond, is an example of an innovative approach that can allow a growing number of developing countries to reduce their debt by investing in conservation and giving them a larger role in fighting to climate change.[Continue reading here]

Developing countries “will need $2 trillion a year in climate finance by 2030”

According to a commissioned report jointly commissioned by the British and Egyptian governments and presented at COP27, developing countries will need more than $2 trillion a year by 2030 to finance their climate actions, almost half of which will have to come from external investors.These investments should be used to “reduce emissions, build resilience, address losses and damage caused by climate change, and restore land and nature.”[Continue reading here]

Tuvalu is the first country to call for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty at COP27

The small island nation of Tuvalu, heavily exposed to rising sea levels caused by global warming, has called for an international fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, which would phase out the use of coal, oil and gas.It is the first state to present such a proposal at a United Nations climate conference and the second ever to call for an agreement to end the era of fossil fuel burning, after Vanuatu.[Continue reading here]

A group of countries have committed to stopping and reversing the trend of deforestation in the world

Twenty countries have formed the Forest and Climate Leaders' Partnership to halt and reverse deforestation this decade, writes The Independent.The group, led by the United States and Ghana, includes countries that account for 60% of global GDP and 33% of the world's forests.New funding from the public and private sectors is expected to push spending on forest conservation above $20 billion over the next five years, reports The Guardian. [Continue reading here]

EU CO2 emissions fell by 5% in the last three months after post-Covid surge

According to a study by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), taken from Carbon Brief, in the last three months the European Union's carbon dioxide emissions from energy use have decreased by 5% compared to the same period in 2021.In August, emissions fell for the first time after steadily increasing every month from March 2021 to July 2022 following post-pandemic lockdown reopenings.A signal that contradicts predictions of an increase in emissions after many countries have turned to coal and new gas suppliers to tackle the energy crisis.Indeed, in the month of October, a drop of 8% was recorded.[Continue reading here]

World Meteorological Organization:Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published the State of Climate in Europe 2022 report.And the conclusions tell us that no continent is warming as much as Europe.Temperatures have risen more than double the global average and in the period from 1991 to 2021 we have gained half a degree per decade.[Continue reading here]

UNESCO:“Major glaciers, including the Dolomites and Mount Kilimanjaro, are destined to disappear by 2050”

According to a UNESCO report, some of the world's most famous glaciers, including the Dolomites in Italy, Yosemite and Yellowstone parks in the United States and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, are set to disappear by 2050 due to global warming, whatever the temperature increase scenario.[Continue reading here]

United Kingdom, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ready for a large tax on extra profits of energy companies

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are reportedly considering a tax increase on extra profits from oil and gas companies to raise around £40 billion over five years.[Continue reading here]

Preview image:COP27 away Twitter