COP27: A global climate summit to catalyse action

COP27 will take place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to discuss crucial issues and topics related to global and national climate action

COP27 is starting in less than a week and will bring together tens of thousands of people in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Representatives of developed countries, developing countries, and other stakeholders will travel to this global climate summit to negotiate and discuss climate action to limit global warming. But what exactly is COP27, and why is it important?

An introduction to COP27

COP stands for “Conference of the Parties,” which refers to the signatories (“Parties”) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international environmental treaty that came into being during the 1992 Earth Summit (officially: United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Currently, there are 198 Parties to the UNFCCC, including all United Nations member states, two General Assembly observers, two non-member states, and the European Union.

The UNFCCC entered into force in 1994 and has the ultimate aim of preventing “dangerous human interference with the climate system.” It is the parent treaty to the 1997 Kyoto Agreement and the 2015 Paris Agreement and its Secretariat oversees a complex institutional architecture that serves to advance implementation of the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement. Every year—with the pandemic-related exception of 2020—the Parties to the UNFCCC meet in person for two weeks to continue negotiations and discuss a range of thematic areas. 

COP27 is the 27th of these annual meetings, which take place in different regions based on a rotational system, with Egypt being the fifth African host country, and the first since Morocco in 2016.

The intergovernmental process and climate action

The need for urgent climate action has been highlighted again and again by an onslaught of climate-related disasters and widespread impacts on global supply chains, national economies, and communities on the ground. Floods, droughts, heat waves, storms and the creeping changes to rainfall patterns, ocean conditions, soil fertility, animal habitats, and climatic zones are already affecting people across the globe. 

The UNFCCC in general, and the Paris Agreement in specific, aim to address this by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, supporting adaption, and addressing unavoidable losses and damages caused by climate change.

Climate change mitigation is perhaps the most highlighted of these three aspects in media and public discussion. The Paris Agreement has the goal of “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts,” and ideally to 1.5°C, “recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.”

However, there are other key areas in addition to mitigation, including adaptation. The Agreement strives to increase the ability of human communities and systems to “adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development,” as well as channel finance and other means of support from developed to developing countries based on their respective capacities, resources, and responsibilities.

Towards this end, the Conference of Parties makes unanimous decisions that are based on complex negotiations between different Parties and negotiation blocks, such as the African Group of Negotiators, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), or the Group of 77 plus China, a coalition of 134 developing countries including Sri Lanka. Actively engaging in the negotiations presents an opportunity for countries, particularly developing countries, to ensure that their needs are recognised and that they receive the necessary support to implement climate action on the national level.

The Paris Agreement is meant to start full implementation beyond 2020, with previous COPs serving to finalise the “Paris Rulebook” that will guide this process. Implementation is also based on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted by Parties to the UNFCCC to outline national commitments towards mitigation. 

In the case of most developing countries, these mitigation commitments are complemented by components related to adaptation and/or loss and damage as well—Sri Lanka, for example, has all three. NDCs must be updated every five years, and most countries have submitted two NDCs so far.

From 2021 to 2023, Parties to the Paris Agreement will also conduct a Global Stocktake (GST) to evaluate the world-wide progress on mitigation, adaptation and provided support, which will then be repeated every five years thereafter. In addition, Parties are also supposed to determine a Global Goal on Adaptation by 2023, engage in reporting under the enhanced transparency framework starting from 2024, and decide on a new collective quantified goal on climate finance for 2025 onwards, feeding again into the next Global Stocktake and the overall assessment of the success of the Paris Agreement.

A space for dialogue and discussion

After a World Leaders’ Summit with heads of state on 7 and 8 November, negotiations will last at least until 18 November to negotiate the exact form, modalities, and actions on these and many other critical areas. Besides emission reduction, mobilisation of finance, and support for adaptation, other key issues include, for example, finance for loss and damage as well as the establishment of a global carbon market.

In addition to the official negotiation workstreams, there are thematic days focusing on areas including finance, science, youth engagement, adaptation, agriculture, gender, water, energy, biodiversity, and civil society engagement. Countries and organisations host pavilions that serve as venues for a variety of events and workshops, while official side events take place simultaneously in the meeting rooms across the vast venue in Sharm El Sheikh.

COP27 presents an opportunity and a space for different stakeholders to engage with each other, exchange knowledge, and strengthen networks. Especially for developing countries, it is also a vital chance to make their voices heard, both individually and as part of like-minded negotiation blocks, which will ensure that they can receive the finance and support needed and engage in global climate action according to the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities.

(The writer works as Director – Research & Knowledge Management at SLYCAN Trust, a non-profit think tank based in Sri Lanka. His work focuses on climate change, adaptation, resilience, ecosystem conservation, just transition, human mobility, and a range of related issues. He holds a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Cologne, Germany and is a regular writer to several international and local media outlets.)