Where’s the money? COP27 climate summit opens with a rallying call for rich nations to pay up

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — Top officers kicked off proceedings at the U.N.’s flagship climate convention by urging rich international locations to lastly repair their damaged $100 billion promise, whereas the hot-button issue of reparations was adopted onto the official agenda for the first time.

The COP27 summit, which formally opened on Sunday, sees delegates from almost 200 international locations collect in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh for talks on how to deal with the climate disaster.

Climate finance, because it has carried out since the first U.N. climate convention in 1995, will as soon as once more play a pivotal position.

It follows a collection of mind-bending excessive climate occasions worldwide. For occasion, in simply the previous couple of months, one-third of Pakistan was utterly submerged by historic flooding, Nigeria recorded its worst floods in a decade and China suffered its most intense and sustained heatwave on record.

“I fully recognize the scale of the challenge still in front of us,” Alok Sharma, a U.Ok. lawmaker and president of final yr’s COP26, mentioned Sunday as he addressed attendees at the U.N.-brokered talks.

“We are not currently on a pathway that keeps 1.5 in reach. And whilst I do understand that leaders around the world have faced competing priorities this year, we must be clear; as challenging as our current moment is, inaction is myopic and can only defer climate catastrophe,” Sharma mentioned.

“We must find the ability to focus on more than one thing at once. How many more wake-up calls do world leaders actually need?”

The 1.5 levels Celsius restrict is the aspirational temperature threshold ascribed in the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. It is acknowledged as a essential world goal as a result of past this stage, so-called tipping factors turn into extra doubtless. These are thresholds at which small modifications can lead to dramatic shifts in the Earth’s complete life help system.

“I will do everything in my power to support our Egyptian friends and the U.K. is here to reach ambitious outcomes across the agenda, including on mitigation, adaptation and loss and harm,” Sharma mentioned on handing the COP presidency over to Egypt’s Sameh Shoukry.

“We know we have reached a point where finance makes or breaks the program of work that we have ahead of us,” he added. “So, whilst I would point to some of the progress shown on the $100 billion, I hear the criticisms and I agree that more must be done by governments and the multilateral development banks.”

Low-income international locations, already burdened with debt, have repeatedly called for a transfer to grant-based finance as opposed to extra loans.

“I believe that you agree with me when I say that we do not have the luxury of continuing in this way. We have to change our approach to this existential threat,” Shoukry added.

The push for this $100 billion finance pledge to be fulfilled comes amid broader calls for rich international locations to compensate weak nations as it becomes harder for many people to live safely on a warming planet.

Climate reparations, generally referred to as “loss and damage” funds, are widely expected to dominate the COP27 talks. These funds refer to the harmful impacts of the climate disaster that international locations can’t defend in opposition to as a result of the dangers are both unavoidable or they can not afford it.

Indeed, for the first time ever, the subject of loss and harm finance formally made it onto the COP27 agenda. The subject was first raised by climate-vulnerable international locations 30 years in the past.

“We do not want to be here, demanding finance for our loss and damage response,” a spokesperson mentioned on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, a group of 39 small island and low-lying coastal growing nations largely from the Caribbean and South Pacific.

“We do not want to be treated as though you are doing us a favor by adding an agenda item or creating a voluntary fund,” they added.

“AOSIS is here to agree to the establishment of a new Loss and Damage Response Fund at COP27 that is operational by 2024. We are here, so that we can go back to our own homes, and not become climate-displaced people in yours.”

The U.N. Environment Programme mentioned late final month that there’s “no credible pathway” in place to cap world heating at 1.5 levels Celsius. A separate U.N. report warned the world is “nowhere near” hitting its targets to curb greenhouse fuel emissions, with present plans estimated to see world temperatures rise by 2.5 levels Celsius.

Meanwhile, the WMO mentioned the quantity of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in the Earth’s ambiance hit file highs final yr. These are the three greenhouse gases accountable for trapping warmth in the ambiance and driving world heating.

U.N. Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell on Sunday urged climate envoys from round the globe to give attention to three essential traces of motion at COP27. He additionally doubled down on the want for high-income nations to financially help international locations on the frontline of the climate emergency.

“First, we must demonstrate this transformational shift to implementation,” Stiell mentioned. “Every corner of human activity must align with our Paris agreement of pursuing efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.”

“The second line of action, we must cement progress on these critical workstreams: Mitigation, adaptation, finance and – crucially – loss and damage,” Stiell mentioned.

“Finally, a third line of action, we must enhance the delivery of the principles of transparency and accountability throughout the process.”