Few signs of meaningful implementation at COP27

Week one of COP27 ended with precious few signs of meaningful implementation in sight.

The first week is dedicated to working groups wrangling with technical issues and drafting wording for ministerial negotiations in week two.

Separating the two phases, Sunday saw the formal proceedings going into recess for a day, allowing delegates, observers, press and salespeople to ostensibly take a break to catch our collective breaths. Not that the work stopped.

A brief visit to one of the Red Sea beaches saw throngs of COPpers networking and exchanging information in between dips in the warm clear waters.

Beneath the blue surface the famed coral reef was dead – a grim grey reminder that these ‘lungs of the ocean’ are bearing the brunt of marine warming, as warned in iteration after iteration of IPCC reports.

Over the weekend, Minister Creecy joined her African environmental minister counterparts at a formal meeting to consolidate positions for the upcoming week of negotiations, stating an ongoing commitment to calling for loss and damage support from developed nations. She also emphasised the need for the developed nations to make good on their commitment to provide the developing world with $100 billion in financial assistance for addressing climate impacts.

A rich discussion on Saturday, hosted by the Presidential Climate Commission, highlighted risks and opportunities relating to adaptation and climate resilience.

South Africa would need at least R866 billion for adaptation between 2022 and 2030 according to a hot-off-the-press World Bank report. According to the world bank some of this money should be funded through carbon taxes.

Dr. Debra Roberts, head of the Resilient Cities Initiative at eThekwini metro and co-chair of the IPCC working group on adaptation, highlighted the need to focus on ecosystem-based solutions (for example maintaining healthy rivers and wetlands which could minimise flooding and practicing agro-ecology for food security). All panelists emphasised that adaptation measures need to be equitable and inclusive to avoid perpetuation socio-economic injustice.

Greenwashing and Net Zero under the spotlight

Established by the UN secretary general, the High‑Level Expert Group on the Net Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities released the valuable Integrity Matters report on preventing dishonest climate accounting. It sets recommendations and definitions for net-zero, and net-zero aligned pathways, hopefully countering the proliferation of disingenuous claims by corporations that claim they are taking climate action but continue to avoid meaningful emissions reductions.

In the negotiations

There is very little on the table that looks promising after week 1:

• In terms of mitigation, there is no agreement on establishing a long-term workplan (which would provide additional stability and certainty regarding emissions reduction trajectories), being opposed by nations who generally want to continue exploiting fossil fuel resources and only agree to a one-year plan.
• While not officially on the agenda, there is a behind-the-scenes tussle around keeping the 1.5°C alive. Civil society, activists and climate vulnerable countries not supportive of fossil fuel production are pushing for this, while others (albeit not officially) are suggesting that this target is no longer attainable and that we should be settling for a 2°C ambition, a climate and human rights catastrophe.
• In terms of Article 6.4 (carbon credits and offsets), there is increasing resistance to adopting recommendations on carbon removals, a welcome trend as these recommendations were being seen as paving the way for problematic technologies such as unproven carbon capture and storage to have undue influence in emissions reduction pathways and plans.
• Loss and damage continues to dominate as a key topic, but there is not any real progress towards establishing a facility for financial support. The US and other developed nations continue to stand firm that there will be no entering into any discussions around liability and compensation.

Eyes will now be on ministerial negotiations, to give an indication of what levels of political support there is for the items on the table. At this stage there is widespread concern that fossil fuel interests are gaining ground, and the so-called implementation COP will not see much in the way of meaningful implementation.

Source: Centre For Environmental Rights