In the 27th 'Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC' there was much anticipation and expectations entering into the series of meetings aimed to analyse and renew the infamous agreements at Paris.
One of the greatest successes of the conference was the agreement of a 'Loss and Damage Fund'. This is a historic step for climate-vulnerable developing countries who will be able to gain access to aid due to natural disasters as a consequence of climate change and global warming. How the fund will be funded and the exact makeup of it is still yet to be decided, but the progression in the agreement of the fund is a step in the right direction.
However, the meeting failed to deliver some of the essential elements people desired, notably a committed shift away from fossil-fuels. While the events in Russia and Ukraine of 2022 and the resulting energy crisis suffered globally should have called for an accelerated energy transition, this was not the case. At best the language from COP26 was repeated, a step in the wrong direction especially given the unprecedented weaponisation of energy, which can be read about in ‘New Age of Warfare’.
A call for a faster phase-down failed to extend to oil and gas, the extraction and burning of which combined account for 40% of all annual greenhouse gas emission. Rather, the language emphasised a 'phase-up' of new technologies for a clean-energy-transition as opposed to a 'phase-down' of dirty fuels.
The UN Secretary-General called for technology to extend further geographically by implementing an extreme weather early-warning system that will reach every single person in the next 5 years.
While these are all significant outcomes of the COP27, the old issue remains alive and unaddressed by the conference. There is a desperate need to reduce emissions. A fund for developing nations is merely a coping tool, not a preventative solution. There still is a lot of work to do, to invest significantly in renewables and stop the use of fossil fuels. This does not mean balance it out with clean energy and new technology, but cut down the use of non-renewables.
The magic number is 1.5.
It is the line on which the future of the planet lies. Preventing that line being crossed is the single most important responsibility of everyone now to ensure that we can live sustainably and not let climate change runaway.