For nearly 30 years, the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) has been the celebrated cause of overseas climate talks. This year’s COP27 begins on Sunday in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, under the auspices of the UN. Some two hundred countries will participate, in addition to companies, NGOs, scientists and journalists.
While those monumental talks are meant to provide answers on how to take on climate replacement, they are criticized for bringing a limited number of effects to the table. Witnessing last year’s COP in Glasgow, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg called the meetings “greenwashing. . . ] It’s not really meant to replace the total system. “The 19-year-old will not attend COP27.
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“One of the main reasons for the complaint is that we do not see the concrete effects of the commitments made. There is a lack of accountability and follow-up of the resources and means promised [by the participants],” said Sébastien Treyer, director of the Institute. for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), referring to the global methane commitment and net zero monetary alliance, both designed at COP26 in Glasgow last year.
For critics, the COP meetings have served little or no good. And perhaps rightly so. Greenhouse fuel emissions reached a new high in 2021, biodiversity loss is endemic and global warming has accelerated, leading to intense heat waves, devastating wildfires and historic floods.
Worse, the old commitments made through the participating countries are not being fulfilled. The Paris climate agreement, signed in 2015 at COP21, pledged to restrict temperature to 1. 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. But the world is far from on track, heading for a temperature of around 2. 5°C by the end of the century. A “catastrophic” trajectory, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
It is unlikely that the next COP can oppose this trend, given the looming energy crisis and continuing tensions between China and the United States, the world’s two biggest polluters.
While miraculous results are not expected at COP27, this year’s convention is useful in several ways. First, to help set the bar for long-term conventions. Climate negotiations are so complex that they require so-called “transition” COPs.
“COP27 is an opportunity to prepare the first global review in 2023, which will take stock of the implementation of the Paris Agreement. It’s about defining what criteria will be used to measure the progress that has been made,” said Greenpeace climatologist Clément Seneschal. he said hours before leaving for Sharm el-Sheikh.
COP27, the first of its kind to be held in Africa, the world’s least polluting continent, is expected to be a vital milestone for climate justice. .
In 2009, rich countries pledged to mobilize $100 billion a year starting in 2020 for climate action in emerging countries. But developed countries now say they may not meet that commitment until 2023, 3 years later. provided, far less than the $340 billion a year needed for adaptation until 2030, according to the UN.
“We are facing an incredibly confusing geopolitical moment in which the countries of the South are expressing their distrust of the West. We hope that Germany and Canada, which lead the organization of the countries of the North on this issue, will make more accurate commitments to repair confidence in the South, which has immense investment needs,” explains Sébastien Treyer.
Providing a platform for vulnerable countries to speak on an equal footing with countries of the North is undoubtedly the greatest strength of the COP. “This is the only multilateral forum where debates like these take place,” insists activist Clément Sénéchal. But the disadvantage is that decisions will have to be taken unanimously. “Every country has a veto right, so we regularly end up with the lowest denominator which is not unusual. “
“The multilateral forum is not perfect, but it is the one we have,” says Treyer, director of IDDRI, who insists on the importance of achieving “agreements at the highest level” to promote the ecological transition.
By mobilizing civil society and raising public awareness, COP meetings also have the merit of creating a common culture around primary climate issues, when other countries participate in the same conversation.
The annual weather conference encourages “collective learning and reporting sharing,” Treyer says. “Weaning from coal is a real challenge in South Africa and Indonesia, as it is in Germany. Complex political and social negotiations to initiate the transition.
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“COP events also keep diplomatic channels open on issues that have critical geopolitical implications. Climate change leads to population displacement, natural resource strains and situations that demand difficult interests,” says Greenpeace’s Seneschal. “Without this, the option is war and struggles of force in the foreign sphere,” he concludes.
This article has been translated from French.