In this article, I look at COP27 billed as the global climate change summit will take place in Egypt. Anyone struggling to understand what is COP27 and why it is important will benefit from this episode as these vital questions will be answered.
So, what is COP27, where and when will it be held, who will attend, what does the programme cover & what are its goals and objectives
However, there are vital questions that are begging to be answered. So, here goes:
What is COP27?
COP27 sounds a strange title to give to such an important globally important meeting.
The ‘COP’ is a global summit on the climate change held by the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is the international treaty with an objective to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system, primarily by stabilising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The summit is known as the Conference of the Parties, or COP for short.
The first COP was held in Berlin in 1995 and has been held every year since save for 2020 except when it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic & this year’s meeting will be the 27th annual summit, which is why it is call “COP27”.
Where will COP27 be held?
COP27 will be held in the Sharm El Sheikh International Convention Center in Sharm El Sheikh, which is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. It is well placed for holding COP27 as the city and holiday resort is a significant centre for tourism in Egypt, while also attracting many international conferences and diplomatic meetings.
When will COP27 be held?
COP27 is scheduled to be held from 6 to 18 November 2022.
What is COP27 programme?
The COP27 programme will cover different themes, and each day will have a theme by its own as follows:
Finance Day
Water Day
Decarbonization Day
Science Day
Solutions Day
Gender Day
Energy Day
Biodiversity Day
Youth Day & Civil Society Day
Who will attend?
Nearly all of the countries in the world are party to the UNFCCC. There are approximately, 200 world leaders and 30,000 delegates expected to attend, take part in discussions, report back on progress since the 2015 Paris Agreement, and make further decisions on how to reduce GHG emissions and combat the impact that climate change is already having.
What can we expect at COP27?
Egypt as the Host country for COP27 has two main goals and vision:
For COP27 to be inclusive, rules based and ambitious, substantive outcomes, in relation to the science and guiding principles, by building the work from the first conference in RIO in 1992 to right up to the previous COP26 at Glasgow in 2021.
They will seek to accelerate global climate action through emissions reduction, scaled-up adaptation efforts and enhanced flows of appropriate finance. We recognize that ‘just transition’ remains a priority for developing countries worldwide.
This overall goal and vision will be supported by sub-goals under each of four headings:
Mitigation
Where the goals are to unite to limit global warming to well below 2oC and work hard to keep the 1.5oC target alive.
For COP27 to become the moment for countries to fulfil their pledges and commitments
And, to implement the Glasgow pact call to review ambition in NDCs and create a work program for ambition on mitigation.
Adaptation
Where recognition that extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, floods, forest fires have become an everyday reality of our lives.
For World leaders, governments, and state parties to reiterate their commitment at COP26 for enhanced global action on Adaptation in the COP26.
Through the Global Goal on Adaptation that was one of the significant outcomes of COP2 make crucial progress towards enhancing resilience and assist the most vulnerable communities
And, to place adaptation at the forefront of global action.
Finance
Make significant progress on the crucial issue of climate finance
Recognise the importance of adequacy and predictability of climate finance and a need for enhanced transparency of finance flows and facilitated access to meet the needs of developing countries
Follow-up on existing commitments and pledges to provide clarity the actions to be taken
And, progress on delivery of the annual USD 100 billion will build more trust between developed and developing countries, showing that actual commitments are being fulfilled.
Collaboration
The final objective is to enhance and facilitate agreement in the negotiations is of the utmost importance for the Presidency of CO27 to achieve tangible results in a balanced manner.
To use consensus-based, and agreements that are inclusive with the active participation from all stakeholders.
By working tirelessly to ensure adequate representation and participation from all relevant stakeholder in COP27
Turn the Glasgow outcome into action and commence with its implementation.
Recognition that humans are at the centre of climate talks is imperative.
And, finally, Governments, the private sector and civil society need to work, in tandem, to transform the way in which we interact with our planet.
So, to summarise:
We should, all, hope that COP27 can reignite the positivity for dealing with climate change and to make practical and significant steps to ensure that all parties can deliver on the Paris Agreement commitment for “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
In the run-up to the COP27 summit, I will aim to provide further articles to help in understanding climate change and the actions that you can take, both as an Environmental Manager or Consultant & as an individual.
Further information on the issues presented in this article are available from the COP26 & UNFCCC websites.
| Website | WebLink |
| COP27 | https://cop27.eg/ |
| UNFCCC | https://unfccc.int |
In the run-up to the COP27 summit, I will aim to provide other articles to help in understanding climate change and the actions that you can take, both as an Environmental Manager or Consultant & as an individual.
If this article has helped to advance your understanding of the COP27 summit, please leave a comment in the box below, if this article has help you.
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