Data from COP27

The 27th Conference of the Parties took place in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh, under the theme “Together for Implementation”. With 35,000 people in attendance, including government representatives, observers, and members of civil society.

COP27 took place between November 6 and 18, 2022, a year marked by extreme weather events across the globe.

António Guterres issued a stark warning at the opening of COP27, “We either cooperate or we perish”.

The UN Secretary-General emphasized:

Atmospheric CO2 levels are so high that we will barely be able to limit warming to 1.5°C… it is already too late for many glaciers, and melting will continue for hundreds, or even thousands, of years, with serious consequences for water security.

This, coupled with scientific data that reiterates that “the world is not doing enough to reduce carbon emissions and protect the future of our planet.”

The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, delivered the welcoming address. Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, was elected President of COP27 for the 2022-2023 period. The summit was chaired by Simon Stiell, born in Grenada, the Caribbean nation and Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change since August 2022, succeeding Patricia Espinoza.

Some of the world’s largest economies and biggest polluters, such as China, Russia, and India, did not attend COP27, despite the importance of the issues to be addressed and the dangers hanging over humanity like swords of Damocles.

Meanwhile, the Spanish newspaper El País published an article denouncing that “The Egypt climate summit brings together more fossil fuel companies than the Glasgow summit”, with the subheading: “An analysis denounces the presence of 636 people linked to oil, gas, and coal companies registered to participate in COP27”.

We at SGKPLANET consider this an unprecedented and unacceptable situation, given its contradiction to the spirit in which the COP Conferences were created.

Minimal Progress in Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Regarding this crucial issue, there wasetback and progress, to the point that the Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, had harsh words regarding the summit’s results, which he described as an unacceptable setback, and threatened to leave COP27 if the global warming limit is not kept at 1.5ºC. He issued this stark warning:

“Let’s be clear, the European Union partners are here to bring home a good outcome. We would rather have no decision than a bad one”.

And, the newspaper El País, on November 20, published: “Lack of ambition in the fight against climate change stalls the final negotiations of COP27”. A few lines later, it softened the blow: “COP27 represents progress, although it doesn’t satisfy everyone”.

Regarding the minimal progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there was hardly any progress. The Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, called the summit an unacceptable setback and threatened to leave COP27 if the 1.5°C global warming limit was not maintained.

And adding, “Let’s be clear, the European Union partners are here to bring home a good outcome. We would rather have no decision than a bad one.”

Some other opinions

The COP presidency released the draft of the meeting’s final declaration on Saturday, November 19, 2022, at 1:00 PM. This declaration should have referred to the phase-out of all fossil fuels and barely mentions coal. It also failed to clarify that global emissions should peak by 2025 to keep the 1.5-degree target alive, as Europe demands.

For his part, António Guterres stated: “Clearly this will not be enough, but it is a much-needed political signal to rebuild broken trust… this conference has taken an important step towards justice. I welcome the decision to establish a fund for loss and damage and to put it into operation in the next session”.

For Ecologists in Action: “Regarding mitigation, the final text shows no progress compared to COP26 in Glasgow… it is unacceptable that a year has been lost in the fight against the climate emergency.”

Our opinion at SGK-PLANET

Once again, as almost every year, the unpleasant taste of postponement was felt, that inevitable desire to postpone uncomfortable issues, especially those that affect the pockets of large countries. The gradual elimination of fossil fuels was not addressed in the document.

The COP presidency released the draft of the meeting’s final declaration on Saturday, November 19, 2022, at 1:00 PM. This declaration should have addressed the phase-out of all fossil fuels but barely mentions coal. It also fails to state that global emissions must peak by 2025 to keep the 1.5-degree target alive, as Europe had demanded.

Conclusions

The problem with COPs is that they seem like repetitive films that end with the postponement of uncomfortable issues until the following year. Nevertheless, some people were satisfied with the results of COP27 because, at the last minute, during the extended session, funding to cover potential “loss and damage” attributable to climate change was finally approved, albeit with some difficulty.

Sandor Alejandro Gerendas-Kiss
Editor of SGK-Planet