Bary White
After extending the Sharm El Sheikh summit for two days, a new fund to help countries worst-hit by the effects of climate change was agreed by some 200 countries in a historic deal. Called the ‘loss and damage fund’ we don’t yet know the details of how much money it will involve, and where the cash will come from. Poor countries had been pushing for 30 years for rich countries to help foot the bill for ‘loss and damage’ caused by global warming. The summit also agreed that the world needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions nearly in half by 2030.
But critics say the COP27 UN summit in Egypt did not go far enough on cutting the emissions that cause climate change.
UN Secretary General António Guterres says it did not address the need for drastic reductions and the planet is still “in the emergency room”.
COP27 maintained the commitment to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, although many believe this is no longer possible. Failure however, would expose millions more people to potentially devastating climate impacts.
The talks were heralded as an opportunity for countries to unite against the existential threat of climate change, but an analysis showed there are more fossil fuel lobbyists attending the conference than representatives of the 10 nations most affected by the crisis. A data analysis of the United Nations’ provisional attendance list for the conference shows that 636 fossil fuel lobbyists had been registered, up 25% from last year’s COP26 Glasgow conference. Many will see this as a contributory factor to why the talks did not go far enough in reducing emissions. Attempts to address the biggest source of emissions ended in a fiasco after a number of nations, including China and Saudi Arabia, blocked a key proposal to phase out all fossil fuels, not just coal.
According to Corporate Accountability, Corporate Europe Observatory, and Global Witness—the groups that conducted the analysis—there were more fossil fuel lobbyists registered at COP27 than any single national delegation with the exception of the United Arab Emirates.
A list published by Corporate Accountability, Corporate Europe Observatory, and Global Witness showed that corporations and trade groups attending the COP included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—a powerful lobbying organisation that has been dubbed the “chamber of carbon“—as well as Exxon, Chevron, and other major oil and gas firms.
More on this at: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/11/10/twisted-joke-636-fossil-fuel-lobbyists-swarm-cop27-climate-talks
Meanwhile the agreement on the fund was welcomed by Yeb Saño, Executive Director, Greenpeace Southeast Asia and Head of the Greenpeace delegation attending the COP who said: “The agreement for a loss and damage finance fund marks a new dawn for climate justice. Governments have laid the cornerstone of a long overdue new fund to deliver vital support to vulnerable countries and communities who are already being devastated by the accelerating climate crisis.
“Well into overtime these negotiations have been marred by attempts to trade adaptation and mitigation against loss and damage. In the end they were pulled back from the precipice by the concerted effort of developing countries standing firm and by climate activists’ demands for the blockers to step up.”
Photo: Mck Holder.
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