COP27 conclusions: ten advances to continue fighting climate change

COP-27 is finally over. On Sunday, the final agreement was adopted that closed more than two weeks of negotiations of the UN Convention in Sharm el-Seij, Egypt. The main conclusion is this: we must continue to fight against climate change. This is far from over. However, a range of progress has been achieved that we detach into ten points:

1. Climate justice for the most vulnerable

“This COP has taken an important step towards justice.” This is what UN Secretary-General António Guterres said from the conference venue. The reason for their joy was this: COP-27 has agreed on a document that represents a breakthrough in climate justice, with the creation of a large Fund for Damages that compensates for the losses caused by climate disasters caused in the countries that suffer the most from their consequences, but contribute the least to them.

This has been a demand of civil society and the most vulnerable countries (especially in the Global South or island states) for years. The contribution to this fund, according to the agreement reached, will be proportional to the historical responsibility of each country in greenhouse gas emissions. The decision has been taken unanimously between the parties (more than 190 between countries and international organizations), despite pressure from developed countries such as the United States.

However, the agreement contains few details: it has not yet been agreed how this fund will be financed or which countries will benefit from it. To this end, it was decided to form a committee that will address its functioning during the coming months and will undoubtedly open important debates. The financial support structure is expected to be ratified and put into operation by the next COP in 2023.

2. Change in the global financial system

Although it focuses on “rich countries”, the agreement to create a Loss and Damage Fund also invites the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide “financing solutions”. It is sought that the financial means match the commitment of governments. Indeed, for the first time in history, a COP meeting included a call to reform the world’s financial architecture to align it with climate goals.

The idea is to modify the business model of multilateral development banks and international financial institutions, such as the IMF, to ensure that more financing flows to energy transition projects. Guterres reiterated the importance of changing the rules of the game: “They must accept more risks and systematically leverage private financing for countries’ development.” Laurence Tubiana, Executive Director of the European Climate Foundation, said: “The time is right. Climate impacts are beginning to be understood as a macroeconomic risk.”

3. Possible emission reduction agreement

The issue that halted negotiations and made COP-27 the second longest UN climate summit so far was the “mitigation work program.” More advanced countries wanted to standardize countries’ targets for reducing emissions. And, until now, each one uses different criteria and bases. If this is changed, in the future, it may have major implications for the elimination of emissions.

4. Carbon market

Countries agreed at COP-26 to create new rules to strengthen voluntary carbon markets or carbon credits. Broadly speaking, this means that Sweden can pay to protect Thailand’s forests to offset its emissions. Well, at COP-27, negotiators elaborated on much more detailed how such a carbon market would work.

A new set of “high-integrity carbon credit principles” is expected by 2023. A code of conduct on how companies can use voluntary carbon markets to meet their net-zero claims has already been published and rules are being studied to ensure that a company’s plans meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

5. The 1.5ºC target was not touched

It is true: it was hoped to achieve an agreement to reduce fossil fuels (as defined at COP-26 in Glasgow) that could not be. But at least a final agreement was reached and what would have been the first setback in the history of climate negotiations was avoided. Momentum also grew (led by the European Union, along with the US and India) around the idea of meeting the goal of not reaching 1.5ºC global warming, enshrined in the 2015 Paris Agreement. As many as 80 countries now support it, and the EU and others are expected to press on the issue over the next year, despite COP-28 being held in the United Arab Emirates, an oil and gas giant.

6. Strengthen the resilience of energy systems

The International Energy Agency (IEA) presented at COP-27 its report on “Climate resilience for energy security”, which provides a description of the risks and impacts of climate change in the energy sector. This document includes measures to increase the resilience of the sector to storms, cyclones, fires, etc. These include: comprehensive assessments of climate risks and impacts to identify appropriate sites and technologies, improvement of physical systems to prevent and resist damage from climate change, technological and geographic diversification, and climate monitoring systems that enable early warning of emergencies. As an example of this resilience measure, the report includes Iberdrola’s Meteoflow system.

7. US-China rapprochement

Joe Biden’s participation was very relevant. The U.S. has excelled by launching and participating in initiatives, including a partnership that will mobilize $20 billion to accelerate Indonesia’s transition from coal to renewables. In addition, US climate envoy John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua said on Saturday they had resumed formal cooperation, which had been suspended after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this year.

8. Push to reduce methane

The number of countries signing the methane pledge launched in Glasgow last year increased. Now 150 governments have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by the end of the decade. Even China revealed that it had developed a draft, although it stopped short of joining the global commitment.

President Biden announced that he will include a commitment to reduce US methane emissions by 87% by 2030 (vs. 2005). On the other hand, Frans Timmermans, first vice-president of the European Commission, stressed that he was willing to update the EU’s emission reduction commitment, to 57% by 2030.

9. Water compacts and other areas

He highlighted the development of the AWARe Initiative, which wants to place water at the center of climate adaptation and resilience action, launched by the COP-27 Presidency. Likewise, the Global Renewable Alliance was launched, which unites for the first time all the technologies necessary to achieve the energy transition; Accelerate to Zero, with more than 200 organizations involved, with the goal of making new cars zero emissions by 2035 in major markets and by 2040 globally; and a declaration made by 10 shipping organisations and hydrogen producers to deploy 5.5 Mton of green H2 per year by 2030.

10. The role of forests

Forests gained a high role at COP-27, highlighting the launch of the 27-country Alliance of Leaders for Forests and Climate, chaired by Ghana and the USA, to follow up on the commitments made at COP-26 by 114 countries to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030.

In addition, several commitments were made to increase funding for conservation and restoration, highlighting the new U.S. roadmap for scaling natural solutions that calls for ensuring that more than $25 billion in infrastructure and climate finance can support such solutions. Likewise, Germany will double its financing in forests to 2,000 million euros in 2025 and Colombia will invest 200 million annually in the next decade, in the Amazon.

On the other hand, the Action Against Deforestation in the Financial Sector initiative, formed by more than 35 financial institutions with more than 8.9 trillion dollars in assets managed to eliminate deforestation for agricultural products from their portfolios by 2025, is expanded.

Source: Reason