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Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) (AFP) – Since Monday, world leaders flock to the COP27 climate conference in Egypt as they are under intense pressure to strengthen their climate commitments in the face of rising warming and to provide financial support to poor countries most affected by climate change.
Some 110 heads of state and government will speak on Monday and Tuesday before the delegates’ meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh as part of COP27.
These interventions are set against the backdrop of multiple interconnected crises that are shaking the world, namely the Russian invasion of Ukraine, hyperinflation, the risk of recession, the energy crisis with renewed support for fossil energy sources and the crisis food, while the world population will exceed eight billion people.
This “multi-faceted crisis” could put the climate change crisis second on the list of priorities, although its devastating repercussions were most evident in 2022, with deadly floods, heat waves and droughts devastating crops.
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“All crises are important, but none have major repercussions,” UN climate chief Simon Steele said Monday at the official opening of COP27.
Yet countries are still accused of not doing what they should be doing to combat global warming.
Greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced by 45% by 2030 to have a chance to meet the more ambitious goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement – limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era.
But the signatories’ current commitments, even if ultimately met, would lead to a 5-10% increase in emissions, putting the world on an upward trajectory of 2.4 ° C at best by the end of the century.
However, with current policies, warming is expected to reach 2.8 degrees Celsius, which is disastrous, according to the United Nations.
In an indication of the “regression” that many fear, only 29 countries have submitted plans to COP 2021 to increase their commitments to reduce emissions, although they have passed a “charter” inviting them to do so.
Any announcements of further emissions cuts will be highly anticipated in Sharm el-Sheikh.
The world also looks forward to announcements relating to aid to poor countries, which are usually the countries most vulnerable to the consequences of global warming, even if their liability is limited as they emit very few greenhouse gases.
In a gesture that many activists hope is not only symbolic, on Sunday the delegates to COP27 decided for the first time to put the issue of financing the damage caused by global warming on the official agenda of the conference.
This damage is now estimated in the tens of billions and is expected to continue to grow significantly. The recent floods that flooded a third of Pakistan alone caused damage estimated at over 30 billion.
Faced with these repercussions, weak countries require a special financing mechanism, but rich countries have reservations about it, as they fear to officially take responsibility and claim that the climate finance system is quite complex at present.
Absence
The conference takes place in the absence of two main parties. Chinese President Xi Jinping is absent from COP27, while his US counterpart, Joe Biden, worried about Tuesday’s mid-term elections, will pass by Sharm el-Sheikh on 11 November.
However, cooperation is key between the two countries that emit the highest level of greenhouse gas emissions and whose relations are very strained. But Xi and Biden could meet in Bali the following week, on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.
Instead, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a great supporter of oil production, will be present.
The new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also arrives, confirming that he will address the issue of the Egyptian prisoner, who holds British citizenship, Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has been on hunger strike for seven months and has stopped drinking water for seven months. on Sunday, according to his family.
© 2022 AFP
