After long and difficult negotiations that exceeded the deadline set for the conclusion of the Conference of the Parties on Climate (COP 27), delegates at the closing plenary meeting on Sunday morning in Sharm el-Sheikh approved the establishment of a fund to compensate for “losses and damages” suffered by developing countries as a result of climate change.
The head of the conference, Sameh Shukri, called on delegates from about 200 countries who gathered two weeks ago in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to adopt the resolutions that will be presented to them.
Shukri stressed that this reflects a “delicate balance” and “the highest aspirations that can be achieved at present”, referring to the difficulties the conference faced while Egypt’s COP27 chairmanship was subject to numerous criticisms.
The public applauded when this fund was approved, which for many years was required by developing countries, and rich countries still treated it with reservations.
However, after that, the final meeting was adjourned for half an hour at the request of the Swiss delegation; Because another very important text related to the final declaration, the delegates did not receive “a few minutes” before the start of the final meeting and did not have access to it.
On Sunday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed regret that the Conference of the Climate Parties (COP 27) in Sharm el-Sheikh failed to come up with a plan for “drastic reductions in emissions”.
“Our planet is still in the emergency room. Now we need a drastic reduction in emissions, and this is an issue that was not considered at this climate conference,” Guterres said.
A final declaration was adopted, the fruit of a major compromise, calling for a “rapid” reduction in greenhouse gas emissions without setting new targets compared to last year’s COP26 in Glasgow.
“COP-27 has taken an important step towards justice. I welcome the decision to establish and activate the Indemnity and Damage Fund in the coming period,” Guterres said.
However, according to him, “this will obviously not be enough, but it is a much-needed political signal to restore shattered confidence.”
The final text of the conference emphasized “the urgent need for an immediate, deep, rapid and sustainable reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions” responsible for climate warming.
The document “reaffirms the goal of the Paris Agreement to keep average temperature increases well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to continue efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
The text states that “the impacts of climate change will be much smaller at 1.5 degrees Celsius warming compared to 2 degrees Celsius, and the decision has been made to continue efforts to limit temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
In addition, the European Union expressed its disappointment with the agreement to reduce emissions at COP27.
“What we have is not enough as a step forward (…) and does not bring additional efforts on the part of major polluters to increase and accelerate the reduction of their emissions,” said Frans Timmermans, Vice President of the European Commission, at the closing session of the conference, adding: “We are disappointed that it did not succeed.”
The conference approved the creation of a fund to compensate for the “loss and damage” suffered by developing countries as a result of climate change, after long and difficult negotiations.
The emission reduction text became the subject of intense debate as many countries denounced what they saw as a regression on the targets set at previous conferences, in particular maintaining the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial revolution.” alive”.
The current obligations of various countries do not allow them to achieve the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The United Nations says it allows warming to be limited to 2.4 degrees Celsius at the end of this century at best.
But with about 1.2 degrees Celsius warming, the catastrophic effects of climate change have multiplied. Droughts, heat waves, severe fires and devastating floods continued in 2022, causing great damage to crops and infrastructure.
Lawrence Toubiana, co-sponsor of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, lamented that “this Conference of Parties has weakened countries’ obligations to make new, more ambitious commitments.”
Added to this is the issue of reducing the use of fossil energy for heating, which was hardly mentioned in the conference documents.
Coal was mentioned last year after a heated debate, but in Sharm el-Sheikh, the “usual suspects”, according to one delegate, objected to the mention of gas and oil. Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia are among the most mentioned countries in this area.
However, the development of renewable energy sources is mentioned for the first time along with “low-emission” energy sources, in relation to nuclear energy.