TheVoiceOfJoyce

The main text of the Guardian is here for all to read. Since there was no agreed phase out of Coal and new exploration of fossil fuels, what was accomplished? The World’s leaders now fully understand the consequences of their decisions. It’s up to every citizen to make our wishes known.

Do you want to die in a World that’s too hot to live in without food or water? All free people should fight for their right to survival without fossil fuels. I, for one, don’t want to die for an industry that can be replaced, do yo?

How can we maintain 1.5 degrees Celsius?

www.theguardian.com/environment/live/2022/nov/19/cop27-fears-15c-target-danger-negotiations-overrun-live

The environment director at Human Rights Watch, Richard Pearshouse, argues that despite the breakthrough on loss and damage, Egypt, the petro-states and the fossil fuel industry (who came to Cop27 in larger numbers than ever before) got what they wanted: “the text makes no mention of phasing out fossil-fuels and weakens reference to the science + the 1.5 degree target”

Richard Pearshouse

@RPearshouse

·

Follow

Despite the breakthrough on loss + damage, #COP27 failed on emissions. Egypt, petro-states + the fossil fuel industry got what they wanted: the text makes no mention of phasing out fossil-fuels and weakens reference to the science + the 1.5 degree target

hrw.org

Governments Should Commit to Fossil Fuel Phase Out at COP27

In these closing days of COP27, governments are negotiating the final text detailing the key agreements reached at the United Nations climate change summit in Egypt. The first glimpse of that…

3:51 AM · Nov 20, 2022

30

Reply

Share

Read 2 replies

Jeni Miller, at the Global Climate and Health Alliance of 130 health organisations, makes the link between a healthy planet and healthy people:

Despite support from over 80 countries, governments’ collective failure to deliver a clear commitment to phase out all fossil fuels puts us on course to go beyond the already dangerous 1.5C global temperature rise. Only full fossil fuel phase-out will deliver the maximum health benefits from clean air and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.”

Dr Sven Teske, at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, says:

By agreeing on a [loss and damage] fund without details and the 1.5C target remaining without the commitment to phase-out fossil fuels we technically accept to pay for future damages rather than avoiding them.”

Sir David King, former UK chief scientific adviser and chair of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, says we are still on track for well above 2C:

Even with the commitments made and re-affirmed [at Cop27] the world remains on track for 2.7C. By any measure, that represents a bleak future for humanity. Agreements on loss and damage, like any other support package, are only relevant if they are married with commitments that keep warming well below 1.5oC. One without the other is simply no good.”

Adnan Khan, Pakistan Red Crescent Youth Representative, calls on world leaders to act for the sake of future generations:

“One third of my country was underwater when floods ravaged Pakistan this year. My friends in other countries are losing their homes to storms, wildfires, and rain. Decisions made at Cop27 – about loss and damage, finance, and early warning systems – they determine my future and the future of young people. We are willing to do our part, but we need leaders to meet us on this path to change.”

I’m Natalie Hanman, head of environment at the Guardian, taking over from Bibi van der Zee, to bring you more reaction to Cop27, and analysis of what it all means. Contact me on natalie.hanman@theguardian.com and @nataliehanman. Thanks for reading

Last Updated: 08:33 Sunday, 20 November 2022

2h ago

‘The 1.5C climate goal died at Cop27 – but hope must not’

My colleague Damian Carrington has taken a searing look at what Cop27 meant for the goal of keeping global heating below 1.5C, and whether that means it is time to give up.

Does that mean giving up? Absolutely not. The 1.5C target is not a threshold beyond which hope also dies. Every fraction of a degree means an increase in human suffering and must therefore be fought for. How? With everything we have, to tear down the barrier between us and climate stability: the fossil fuel industry.

The 1.5C climate goal died at Cop27 – but hope must not

Instead, the fossil fuel industry and its unconscionable expansion plans will need to be fought elsewhere. The first place is in the mind. The global oil and gas industry has raked in an average equivalent of $1tn a year in unearned profits for the last 50 years by exploiting a natural resource that belongs to citizens. Imagine redirecting that financial firepower at decarbonising the world.

The fossil fuel industry can also be fought on the streets, in peaceful protest, and on the lands being despoiled by their expansion. Countries could shun petro-states by forming a “climate club”, a G7 proposal to enable the ambitious to race ahead and penalise the laggards.

A fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty would provide a transparent way to keep remaining coal, oil and gas reserves untouched. Even a tobacco-style ban on fossil fuel advertising, already backed by the World Health Organization, would help. All of this, and more, will be needed.

Cop27 did achieve something. The new loss-and-damage fund promises to finance the rebuilding of poorer, vulnerable countries hit by increasingly severe climate impacts, which they have done little to cause. It is a long-overdue acknowledgment of the moral responsibility the big polluters have for the climate emergency. It is all the more important given that Cop27’s failure to meaningfully drive emissions cuts means even worse disasters are to come.

Is there hope? Yes, in that every climate action we take lessens the damage. As Cop27 closed, Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner, poet and climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, said: “I wish we had got fossil fuel phase-out. But we’ve shown with the loss and damage fund that we can do the impossible. So we know we can come back [to Cop] next year and get rid of fossil fuels once and for all.” I hope she is right. I fear she is wrong.

Last Updated: 08:08 Sunday, 20 November 2022

2h ago

Jennifer Rankin

Head of EU describes deal as ‘small step towards climate justice’

The head of the EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen, has described the Cop27 deal as “a small step towards climate justice”, but said much more was needed for the planet.

In a dramatic U-turn on Friday, the European Union acceded to poor countries’ demands to create a new fund to address the loss and damage caused by global heating, a decision that paved the way for an agreement early on Sunday.

Senior EU figures responded cautiously to the outcome of the UN conference.

Von der Leyen said much more was needed for the planet: “We have treated some of the symptoms but not cured the patient from its fever,” she said in a statement.

“I am pleased that Cop27 has opened a new chapter on financing loss and damage, and laid the foundations for a new method for solidarity between those in need and those in a position to help. We are rebuilding trust.

“Cop27 has kept alive the goal of 1.5C. Unfortunately however, it has not delivered on a commitment by the world’s major emitters to phase down fossil fuels, nor new commitments on climate mitigation.”

The leader of the European parliament’s delegation to Sharm el-Sheik, the Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout, was blunter in his criticism. “Europe had to fight to the end to maintain last year’s ambition. But this is insufficient if we want to meet the climate goals. I can therefore only conclude that 2022 has been a lost climate year.”

He added that the Cop “achieved something after all” with the decision to create the loss and damage fund.

Last Updated: 08:34 Sunday, 20 November 2022

2h ago

Damian Carrington

One of the most significant achievements of Cop27, after the new fund for loss and damage, is on how to deliver the trillions of dollars needed to cut carbon emissions and adapt societies to the increasingly severe impacts of climate change.

Here’s what the Cop27 decision says, and I’ll explain below:

“[The world’s nations] call on the shareholders of multilateral development banks (MDBs) and international financial institutions to reform practices and priorities, align and scale up funding … and encourage MDBs to define a new vision that [is] fit for the purpose of addressing the global climate emergency.”

This is significant because such reforms really could deliver far higher levels of finance. The Cop27 call adds to pressure already coming from developing countries, under the Bridgetown Agenda championed by Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley, and from rich nations, including all of the G7, and recently the G20.

They are all demanding fast action, by spring 2023. As Mottley told Cop27, many of the nations at the summit did not even exist when the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other MDBs were set up after the second world war – they are no longer fit for purpose, she said.

The reforms are wide-ranging including, for example, co-investing with the private sector to drastically lower the interest on loans for renewables, a major barrier in developing nations. Another reform is large-scale deployment of “special drawing rights”, a type of funds that the IMF creates. Importantly, the Cop27 text calls for MDBs to take into account the high debt burdens many poor nations already have.

Aymara Indigenous women had a day of fasting earlier in the week, as they called for rain on the sacred Inca Pucara mountain in Bolivia, where the World Bank is financing at least one climate change related programme. Residents in the highlands of La Paz say the lack of rain and frost since September is not allowing them to plant potatoes, beans, carrots and peas. Photograph: Juan Karita/AP

Kate Levick, a sustainable finance expert at the thinktank E3G, said: “Finance issues were always going to be critical at this Cop, and sure enough in Egypt they tested the UN process to its limits, with a major gap between the expectations of different groups of countries on provision of climate finance. [But] there was a consensus that current financial architecture and rules are not adequate to meet the climate challenge. The final outcome called for financial system reform, and made a particularly strong set of requests to the MDBs.”

You can read more on climate finance here:

Money talks: why climate finance at Cop27 is key to beating global heating

Last Updated: 08:36 Sunday, 20 November 2022

3h ago

The UN Executive Secretary of Framework Convention on Climate Change Simon Stiell speaks at the closing plenary. Photograph: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

Fiona Harvey has put together this essential guide to the key outcomes of Cop27. The loss and damage fund is a major milestone, she says, but now comes the difficult part.

What are the key outcomes of Cop27 climate summit?

There was much tussling over the Glasgow target of focusing on a 1.5C limit. “At Cop27, some countries tried to renege on the 1.5C goal, and to abolish the ratchet. They failed, but a resolution to cause emissions to peak by 2025 was taken out, to the dismay of many.”

Gas also did well out of the Sharm el-Sheikh conference, with a surprisingly large number of deals signed on the sidelines of the summit. Fiona writes: “The final text of Cop27 contained a provision to boost “low-emissions energy”. That could mean many things, from wind and solar farms to nuclear reactors, and coal-fired power stations fitted with carbon capture and storage. It could also be interpreted to mean gas, which has lower emissions than coal, but is still a major fossil fuel.”

There was no improvement on last year’s commitment to phase down the use of coal, despite intensive lobbying from many groups who wanted to get a commitment to ‘phase down all fossil fuels’ into the text.

But there was arguably some headway on reform of the global financial system, with a growing number of countries looking for urgent changes to the world’s multilateral banks which, they argue, are failing to provide the necessary funding. This is now a serious topic of discussion.

Last Updated: 08:37 Sunday, 20 November 2022

3h ago

Who were the standout voices of Cop27?

Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, made her mark at Cop26 in Glasgow, where she was a powerful voice for developing countries. In Egypt, too, she has again been a force to be reckoned with.

Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados. Photograph: Peter de Jong/AP

Sherry Rehman, the Pakistani climate minister, also played a vital part with her team of negotiators. Our reporter Nina Lakhani pointed out: “It’s worth noting the key role played by Pakistan in securing the historic agreement in creating a loss and damage facility. This year, Pakistan holds the presidency of the G77 negotiating bloc of developing countries plus China, and its negotiators came to Sharm el-Sheikh determined to secure the new funding mechanism after a catastrophic climate year.”

Rehman fought like a tiger for the loss and damage fund, and was justly overjoyed that it got through.

Sherry Rehman, minister of climate change for Pakistan, speaks during the closing plenary session. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP

And the Tuvalu finance minister, Seve Paeniu, gave an impactful speech, holding up a picture of his grandchildren, at a key moment. The island of Tuvalu in the Pacific region is fighting for its life in a way that other countries are not and he humblingly reminded other delegates of this fact.

The finance minister from Tuvalu in the South Pacific, Seve Paeniu, holds up an image of his grandchildren during the plenary session. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

There were so many campaigners working hard to keep delegates focused on the global issues rather than just on their national responsibilities, such as the tireless Meena Raman, director of Third World Network, Harjeet Singh of the Climate Action Network and Mohamed Adow of Power Shift Africa.

But most of all, as in every year, it was the youth activists who held everyone’s feet to the fire, reminding delegates simply through their presence that they will take the brunt of any decisions made, or unmade at this Cop. Vanessa Nakate increasingly occupies a leadership position within the youth movement, but there is a whole new cohort of activists who are taking up the heavy responsibility of speaking truth to power, including Licypriya Kangujam and Mitzi Jonelle Tan.

Licypriya Kangujam during an interview with Reuters. Photograph: Emilie Madi/Reuters

And of course Nakeeyat Sam Dramani, the young poet from Ghana (just 10 years old), who implored delegates to ‘have a heart’.

Nakeeyat Sam Dramani, a young poet from Ghana, holds a placard after giving a speech about global warming during the conference. Photograph: Sedat Suna/EPA

Last Updated: 08:54 Sunday, 20 November 2022

4h ago

This will also be the first text which has included ‘tipping points’, notes Leo Hickman.

Leo Hickman

@LeoHickman

·

Follow

Yes, this is correct. It’s the first time that “tipping points” has ever been mentioned in a COP cover decision text…

owen gaffney

@owengaffney

Is this the first time #tippingpoints are mentioned explicitly in a @UNFCCC COP outcome doc? #cop27 “Recognizes the impact of climate change on the cryosphere and the need for further

understanding of these impacts, including of tipping points”

5:14 AM · Nov 20, 2022

67

Reply

Share

Read 4 replies

This follows a major study in September that showed that climate crisis has driven the world to the brink of multiple “disastrous” tipping points, as reported by my colleague Damian Carrington at the time.

The report found that five dangerous tipping points may already have been passed due to the 1.1C of global heating caused by humanity to date.

These include the collapse of Greenland’s ice cap, eventually producing a huge sea level rise, the collapse of a key current in the north Atlantic, disrupting rain upon which billions of people depend for food, and an abrupt melting of carbon-rich permafrost.

At 1.5C of heating, the minimum rise now expected, four of the five tipping points move from being possible to likely, the analysis said. Also at 1.5C, an additional five tipping points become possible, including changes to vast northern forests and the loss of almost all mountain glaciers.

In total, the researchers found evidence for 16 tipping points, with the final six requiring global heating of at least 2C to be triggered, according to the scientists’ estimations. The tipping points would take effect on timescales varying from a few years to centuries.

World on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, study finds

Last Updated: 06:41 Sunday, 20 November 2022

4h ago

The co-leader of the UK’s Green party Adrian Ramsay is pointing out that while the establishment of the loss and damage fund is an important fund, “the fund is currently empty and we now need rich countries like the UK to step up, honour their commitment to this fund and pay for the harm they have inflicted through historical emissions”.

“But the real failure at Sharm el-Sheikh was that no significant progress has been made in commitments on fossil fuels, which is unsurprising given the hundreds of fossil fuel lobbyists who were active inside the negotiation. In terms of the commitment to eliminating fossil fuels from the global economy, Cop27 represents a backward step.”

Last Updated: 06:12 Sunday, 20 November 2022

4h ago

1.5m people were displaced in devastating floods in Nigeria this year that were made 80 times more likely by climate change. Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

The reactions from climate justice organisations have been tempered by disappointment, too.

Lidy Nacpil, Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, says: “We welcome an initial partial win on Loss & Damage Fund – it is there but buried with other ‘financial arrangements.’ And this win is overshadowed by lack of progress on fossil fuel phase-out and the continued inclusion of false solutions, which means more loss and damage! Lack of progress on fossil fuel phase-out shows the hypocrisy of governments of rich countries in their blah blah blah about keeping global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees, and the corporate capture of the Cop by the fossil fuel industries. We need to escalate even more our struggles – in our countries and international arenas! Onwards!”

Asad Rehman, of War on Want, who has been such a powerful voice in the movement, said: “We leave the summit with a glimmer of hope that the establishment of a Loss and Damage Fund will provide much needed support to those on the frontlines of the climate catastrophe. It’s a small step, a critical one, but an empty fund means nothing. Rich countries who continue to pollute must now provide real finance to the fund.

asad rehman

@chilledasad100

·

Follow

Have left way too many Climate Summits feeling deflated & angry at rich countries divide & rule tactics that let them escape any responsibility for the crisis they have caused. Today I savour a hard fought victory made possible only because of the power of our movements 

1:41 AM · Nov 20, 2022

121

Reply

Share

Read 2 replies

“This historic victory was only made possible because of people power. The unprecedented pressure by climate justice groups and the refusal of developing countries to be bullied or divided, dragged rich countries kicking and screaming across the line.”

But, he cautioned, people were also “bitter at the refusal of the rich to cut their emissions, and shift away from their addiction to fossil fuels. This continues to be a life and death fight for the future of humanity. But the growing power of climate justice movements is sending a warning to rich countries that we are not, and never will be defeated.”