Warnings and realistic assessments at COP27

It was to be expected that the UN Climate Change Conference, also known as Conference of Parties 27 (COP27), which opened at Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on November 6 has got off to a serious and realistic dialogue of what the challenges are and what needs to be done.

It is interesting that since the conference is being held in Egypt, we get to hear the assessments and solutions being offered by the Arab and African leaders more than if the conference had been held in some European city. A conference at a Western venue drowned out the voices of the developing countries.

While UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres delivered a resounding and unambiguous message about the dangers awaiting humanity, other leaders including host Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, United Arab Emirates President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Libyan President Mohamed El-Manfi, Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud have offered realistic assessments of the situation on climate change and the dangers it poses. Guterres put the issue in impactful language when he said, “Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish. It is either a climate solidarity pact -- or a collective suicide pact.”

El-Sisi said, “Climate change will not stop without our intervention.” UAE President Zayed gave a pragmatic assessment and promise. He said, “The UAE is known as a responsible supplier of energy and will continue to play this role for as long as the world needs oil and gas. We will focus on lowering carbon emissions emanating from this sector.”

This is the kind of realistic assurance that is needed instead of stating unrealistic goals. It is clear that oil and gas will continue to be the source of a large part of energy consumption in the world and ways have to be found to make a more environment friendly use of it until the world is able to switch to other modes of energy.

He also mentioned the agreement with the United States about the $100 billion investment to produce 100 gigawatts of clean energy in various parts of the world. UAE will be hosting COP28 in Dubai in 2023.

Libyan President El-Manfi stated the problem of climate change as faced by the developing countries. He said, “Climate change undermined the opportunities of development and investment and curbs economic growth, particularly in the developing countries that are agriculture-based, that is due to the difficulty to make up for the loss of natural resources.”

Somalian President Mohamud pointed out that the majority of the 800 million people who face food insecurity are from Africa.

Meanwhile a UN-backed report commissioned by Egypt and Britain, co-hosts of the climate conferences in Glasgow and in Sharm El-Sheikh said that the Global South would need $2 trillion annually by 2030 to cope with the challenges of climate change, and of this $1 trillion should come from the developed world, and the rest has to be generated by the developing countries themselves. As of now, developing countries excluding China are generating $500 billion to meet the demands of climate change.

The 100-page report, called Finance for Climate Action, says, “The world needs a breakthrough and a new road map on climate finance that can mobilise the $1 trillion from external finance that will be needed by 2030 for emerging markets and developing countries (EMDC) other than China.”

The report has said that investment is need on three broad fronts, mitigation, adaptation and compensation. This will be the real challenge that the advanced economies and the developing economies will have to tackle this decade. And it would need all the diplomatic skills of the leaders of the developing world to get the rich countries to keep to their commitments. It is no easy task.