COP27: Big polluters keep talking, voices of climate vulnerable being stifled

BY VISHAL GULATI

New Delhi, Nov 14 (SocialNews.XYZ) Starting Monday, negotiations at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt will now shift attention as the ministerial sessions begin.

In the past week there was no meaningful progress. Big polluters keep talking while the voices of the climate vulnerable are being stifled.

There is work being done to put a draft cover text which will be the main outcome text and will capture the main issues which will be presented for resolution at the end of COP27 scheduled close on Friday.

The vibe is to have an Africa COP and an implementation COP. As cover text evolves it will have to show some progress on both aspects.

It will also have to acknowledge the lack of progress on finance, the inclusion of loss and damage as an agenda item but not much more, and propose some useful language that shows confidence that the wide gaps in mitigation needed globally can be addressed, senior negotiator, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IANS.

Sounding an alarming note, Greenpeace has warned that hope and progress can only be restored if the microphone is taken from the polluters and handed to people from impacted communities and countries.

To succeed, the COP27 must agree to establish a dedicated financial facility for loss and damage, secure adequate adaptation and green transition funding for developing countries and accelerate fossil fuel phase out in line with 1.5 degrees Celisus.

Yeb Sano, Executive Director, Greenpeace Southeast Asia and Head of the Greenpeace delegation attending the COP said: "People and the planet are being sidelined, pushed to the fringes and into the corners of COP27, buried beneath corporate logos and fossil fuel lobbyists.

"This is supposed to be more than just a process COP, it is supposed to be the Africa COP, where the voices of the hardest hit by climate impacts should be the loudest and the outcomes dictated by the needs of people and planet not the greed of polluters."

However, key issues to watch out for in the week are: Mitigation work programme. A strong mitigation work plan will be foundational to discuss nationally determined contributions (NDCs), the progress made on mitigation across countries, and will strongly link to the political decisions on climate action. It will be linked as well to the Global Stock Take next year. What happens here is therefore crucial.

The mitigation work programme is focused on slashing emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, which is what the IPCC says is necessary if climate goals are to be met.

According to the observer, the text is currently full of brackets, leaving much to be finalised. Timelines on when the programme should wrap up currently give four options -- 2023, 2024, 2030 and until the emissions gap is closed.

Fossil free COPs? Is that possible?

A lot of oil and gas conversations have sneaked in at this COP. There was much excitement at COP26 in Glasgow to announce a pledge on methane, a phase down of coal and what seemed like a clear shift to clean energy goals.

Oil and gas executives have been busy making backroom deals and also making some stunning public statements. BP's boss Bernard Looney is listed as a delegate for Mauritania, also among the 600 plus gas lobbyists was Occidental Petroleum CEO, Vicki Hollub, who said driving would stop without oil (has she not heard of EVs?).

Elsewhere, Egypt's petroleum minister and Aramco CEO have blamed the energy crisis on green groups. The IEA disagreed.

The other key issues are the long-term collective goal on finance -- yet to hear anything on actual substance.

Loss and damage has seen political progress but any discussions on creating a financial facility have hit a wall.

Developed economies have actively deployed delay tactics so that no decision gets taken at least till two years from now.

It has been a moment which has been a long time in the making. It will be crucial to capture the political momentum into some meaningful progress and not let it get lost in the din of the COP negotiations.

Fundamentally, if any real intention is not shown, and no progress is made on this agenda item, it will only demonstrate how the COP process continues to perpetuate inequality and in and of itself that will be a massive problem of loss of trust in the process, adding to the already big issues around climate finance as we see it.

Progress on climate adaptation so far has been too little, too slow. UNEP's 2022 Adaptation Gap report outlines how to prepare now and for the future.

"This gathering must be the moment to re-commit our future and our shared capacity to write a better story for the world. Let's build on our global climate progress. Raising, both, our ambitions and the speed of our efforts," said President Joe Biden last week.

The first week opened with Finance Day on November 8. The COP started with an intention to raise finance and to meet the long agreed finance commitments. So far, some large developed economies have wanted to omit discussions on what qualifies as climate finance, how it is reported and assessed. They prefer to keep the definitions broad and undefined, which is not what many developing and least developed countries are for.

There is also no progress on public finance in the first place. The discussions are mainly around the broad structure around which private finance can be built out.

Last week the US, Canada, Norway, EU, Japan, and the UK announced a joint declaration from energy importers and exporters on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, particularly methane emissions, as key oil and natural gas importing and exporting countries.

While it's widely agreed that tackling methane is critical to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees, reactions from NGOs to the announcement have been damning, arguing that the best way to reduce methane is to phase out fossil fuels entirely.

James Browning, Communications Director, Global Energy Monitor, said: "Tackling methane emissions from existing fossil fuel projects is a step in the right direction, but let's not take 10 steps backwards by developing new gas and oil projects. The most effective way to reduce harmful methane emissions is to phase out fossil fuels entirely."

A recent report from Global Energy Monitor found that there has been a global surge in new liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals led by the US, and that the US became the leading exporter of LNG in the first half of 2022.

This was partly due to the short-term need for gas to Europe in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but these terminals wouldn't come online for years, missing the immediate need and locking in long-term fossil fuel assets.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

Source: IANS