That is more than the delegations of many of the most vulnerable countries combined.Īfrica is particularly in their sights. They have sent lobbyists to Cop27 in force – there are more than 600 of them enjoying access to the talks, according to analysis by Global Witness published on Thursday. Oil and gas companies are enjoying an unprecedented bonanza amid record fossil fuel prices, sent soaring by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Photograph: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty ImagesĮven as young people protested, and those facing the most severe impacts of the climate crisis bore witness, the halls of Cop27 were host to a shady group with quite different intentions. The UK said it would allow some debt payment deferrals for countries hit by climate disasters, while Austria and New Zealand put forward funding for loss and damage, and John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate, unveiled a plan to use carbon offsetting to raise cash.Ī climate activist dressed as a polar bear participates in a protest outside the Cop27 summit.
However, that amount is not substantially more than what would be needed to invest in those economies in any case, using fossil fuels.ĭespite the focus on loss and damage, there has been little cash forthcoming at this conference so far. In a report jointly commissioned by the UK, host of last year’s Cop26 summit, and the Egyptian hosts of Cop27, published on Tuesday, the climate economist Lord Stern calculated that about $2tn a year would be needed by 2030 for the entire developing world, except China. The amount of cash needed for climate finance, including loss and damage, can seem daunting. “Loss and damage is not charity – it’s climate justice,” Nabeel Munir, Pakistan’s climate envoy, said. Poor countries argue that the rich, source of most greenhouse gas emissions, must provide assistance to the poor that are most afflicted. Pakistan’s record floods are one example the severe drought that has left 150 million people in Africa threatened by extreme hunger is another. The term refers to the devastating impacts of the climate crisis, the most severe extreme weather that countries cannot adapt to, or protect themselves against. That has not stopped all protest at the Cop, however – and the demands from those protesting centre on one issue: “ loss and damage”. Egyptian security has been out in force, and events for civil society groups have been curtailed. Delegates at the conference also faced a lack of food and water, and a spill of what appeared to be raw sewage at the conference centre.
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