what is COP27?
to understand the “COP,” we need to start with another acronym “UNFCCC” or the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. the UNFCCC is an international treaty ratified by 197 countries at the United Nations Conference on Environmental Development, or “Earth Summit” in 1992. The UNFCCC established a framework for international cooperation to combat climate change. its objective is to, “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” (1)
the COP, or the Conference of the Parties, is the decision making body that is responsible for implementing the UNFCCC. the COP meets yearly to discuss progress and negotiate commitments to climate action. the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement are treaties that have come from these annual meetings.
the COP meets every year unless the Parties decide otherwise. the first COP was held in 1995 in Berlin, Germany. this year’s COP is the 27th meeting, hence “COP 27”. the conference is being held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt from November 6th to 18th. world leaders, politicians, scientific experts, activists and others will gather to discuss the climate crisis.
this year’s COP is particularly important because of the urgency of the climate crisis, as seen by the climate impacts over the past year.
UN Secretary-General (chief administrative officer of the UN) António Guterres noted, “a third of Pakistan flooded. Europe’s hottest summer in 500 years. the Philippines hammered. the whole of Cuba in black-out, [and with regards to US and Hurricane Ian] a brutal reminder that no country and no economy is immune” (2)
we know time is running out to meet our global climate goals. the latest report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that emissions need to be halved by 2030, with a peak in emissions no later than 2025. aka we need big, transformative climate action now.
to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we need to move away from fossil fuels ASAP across every industry. it won’t be easy, but it’s also not too late.
this year’s COP is running with the slogan “together for implementation”. the days are organized under themes including: finance, science, youth & future generations, decarbonization, adaptation and agriculture, gender, water, race and civil society, energy, biodiversity, and solutions. to learn more about each day and topic, see here.
a central topic of COP27 will be countries commitments to greenhouse gas emissions reductions and how to reach those targets. stemming from the Paris Agreement, countries committed to reduce their emissions through mitigation action and adapt to climate impacts. these commitments, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) aimed to limit global temperature increases to 2C with the ultimate goal of 1.5C. under the Paris Agreement, countries are supposed to update their NDC every five years. however, given lack of action, at COP26, countries signed the Glasgow Climate Pact to revisit and strengthen their NDCs for 2022 / COP27. there is still a gap in countries’ commitments and the necessary emissions reductions to limit global warming. finally, there will also be discussion on how to help countries prepare for climate change, loss and damage finance to developing countries to help them recover from climate change impacts, and establishment of a global carbon market.
(1) https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/what-is-the-united-nations-framework-convention-on-climate-change
(2) https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/10/31/what-is-cop27-everything-you-need-to-know-about-egypts-landmark-climate-conference
