Climate summit closes with sole commitment from a fund for vulnerable countries

The commitment of countries to review and reduce emissions does not advance compared to the previous summit, something that for the EU was fundamental

The 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) held in Egypt ended on Sunday with a minimum agreement after two days of delay from its initial closing date and the threat by the European Union to abandon the negotiations.

The final document contemplates the creation of a new fund aimed at compensating vulnerable countries for the loss and damage suffered by climatic phenomena aggravated by global warming. However, it has not been possible to achieve more ambitious objectives in the mitigation and reduction of polluting emissions, something that for the EU was fundamental.

The Implementation Plan of Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt), approved this Sunday, only urges countries to progressively reduce the generation of energy from coal in plants that do not have carbon capture technologies and to gradually abandon inefficient subsidies to fossil fuels, terms that were already embodied in the text of the previous summit, Glasgow (COP26).

According to both the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, and the Third Vice-President of the Government of Spain, Teresa Ribera, who has played a prominent role in the conference, the agreement is disappointing, but, at least, it does not retreat from the commitments already made at previous summits.

“We stayed as we were at the beginning in mitigation, with very little more on the table. Enough to continue accelerating in the time to come, but, obviously, well below our expectations, “said Ribera in statements collected by Efe.

Insufficient action to limit warming to 1.5°C

According to the minister, some of the demands of the negotiating bloc of the European Union have not been reflected in this last text, as is the case, for example, to reflect in the document the need to achieve the peak of greenhouse gas emissions in 2025, as recommended by the scientific community.

Nor has the EU won the battle to establish in the document the obligation to annually review the emission reduction commitments (NDCs) established at national level in order to ensure that the global temperature does not increase more than 1.5ºC compared to pre-industrial levels. Currently the temperature has already increased by 1.1ºC and, according to the latest UN report on the state of the climate, even if the climate commitments signed in the Paris Agreement of 2015 are met, an increase of 2.5ºC will be reached.

According to Ribera, the document continues to leave it to each country to make these revisions more frequently, so no progress is made with respect to the agreements of previous summits. In the same vein, Timmermans said in his final speech at the plenary, stating, according to Efe, that the agreement “does not bring enough additional efforts from the main emitters to increase and accelerate their emissions cuts” and that “it does not generate a greater degree of confidence that we will achieve the commitments made under the Paris Agreement and in Glasgow last year. ”

Source: Digital Economy