Loss and damage
Developing countries have been seeking financial assistance for loss and damage (money needed to rescue and rebuild the physical and social infrastructure of countries devastated by extreme weather) for nearly three decades. Finally, reaching an agreement on a fund is an important milestone. Now comes the hard part: the fund needs to be set up and filled with cash. There is still no agreement on how funding should be provided and where it should come from.
1.5ºC
The 2015 Paris agreement contained two temperature targets: keeping the rise to “well below 2C” above pre-industrial levels and “continuing efforts” to keep the rise to 1.5C. Science has since clearly shown that 2C is not safe, so at Cop26 in Glasgow last year countries agreed to focus on a 1.5C limit. Because their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions were too weak to stay within the 1.5°C limit, they also agreed to go back each year to strengthen them, a process known as ratcheting . At COP27, some countries tried to renege on the 1.5C target and abolish the ratchet. They failed, but a resolution was pulled to make emissions peak by 2025, to the dismay of many.
gas
The final text of COP27 contained a provision to promote “low emission energy”. This could mean many things, from wind and solar farms to nuclear reactors and coal-fired power plants equipped with carbon capture and storage. It could also be interpreted to mean gas, which has lower emissions than coal, but is still a major fossil fuel. Many countries at Cop27, especially those in Africa with large reserves to exploit, came to Sharm el-Sheikh hoping to make lucrative gas deals.
Fossil fuels
Last year in Glasgow a commitment to gradually reduce the use of coal was agreed. It was the first time a resolution on fossil fuels had been included in the final text, some would say, incredibly in 30 years of climate change conferences. At COP27, some countries – led by India – wanted to go further and include a commitment to phase out all fossil fuels. This was the subject of intense fighting until Saturday night, but in the end failed and the included resolution was the same as in Glasgow.
Reform of the World Bank
A growing number of developed and developing countries are calling for urgent changes to the World Bank and other publicly funded financial institutions, which they say have failed to provide the funding needed to help poor countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis. Reform of the kind that was widely debated at Cop27 could involve a recapitalization of development banks to enable them to provide much more assistance to the developing world. Fellow climate economist Nicholas Stern has calculated that the developing world will need $2.4 trillion (£2 trillion) a year from 2030. But that’s just 5% more of the investment they would need anyway, much of which would be achieved. – Carbon infrastructures. The World Bank could contribute about half of these funds, he estimates.
adaptation
Building flood defences, preserving wetlands, restoring mangroves and regrowing forests: these measures, and more, can help countries become more resilient to the impacts of climate decay. But poor countries often struggle to get funding for these efforts. Of the $100 billion a year that rich countries promised they would receive from 2020, a promise that has yet to be fulfilled, only about $20 billion goes to adaptation. In Glasgow, countries agreed to double that ratio, but at Cop27 some tried to scrap that commitment. After some struggle, he reasserted himself.
Turning points, the IPCC and health
Since COP26, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released key parts of its latest broad assessment of climate science, warning of catastrophic impacts that can only be avoided with sharp and urgent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. greenhouse effect The IPCC was created by the UN to advise on science, but some countries wanted to remove references to its latest findings from the final text. Instead, reference was made to the key finding of ‘tipping points’ – a warning that the climate is not warming gradually and linearly, but that we risk igniting feedback loops that will cause effects that will heat up quickly. These include the warming of the Amazon, which could turn the rainforest into savanna, transforming it from a carbon sink to a carbon source, and melting permafrost that releases the powerful greenhouse gas methane. A reference to the “right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” has also been inserted. Medical professionals have begun to play a much more prominent role in climate conversations and climate protests, establishing a clear link between global warming and health.