Reflection

Abstract

Dedicated delegates met for the final outcome of COP27 in the early morning of 20 November, the last day of COP27, and officially closing after two weeks of negotiations with the adoption of the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan that establishes the funding arrangement for vulnerable countries for loss and damage. This process was shepherded through the dedication and integrity of COP27 President Sameh Shoukry, and final statements by countries and non-government organizations were heard and held sacred, especially that of human rights.

The advanced unedited versions of the package of decisions during COP27 can be accessed here, one of which is the document on Funding arrangements for responding to loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including a focus on addressing loss and damage.

Now that there are funds for Loss and Damage when distributed, there needs to be national monitoring that these funds are not wasted on pet projects or diminished by corruption, and truly reach their destination of pulling people out of disaster. The intricacies of these documents also indicate the need for representation of poorer countries to argue and rewrite proposals successfully.

This is an achievement after 30 years, when developed countries acknowledged their responsibility in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development during the Earth Summit in 1992, and agreed that ways and means of providing new and additional financial resources and funding mechanisms particularly for developing countries were to be identified, considered, and quantified.

It was also consoling to hear genuine voices that acknowledged the difficulties in the negotiations, as there were parties (not named) who blocked the needed action while there were others who fought with urgency and integrity. This is a positive note that can be taken and shared with others in committing to action and seeking ways to support locally.

Yet, there are also the shadows looming at the side of these lights of achievements such as the:

• Failure to set up the arrangement for adaptation finances
• Failure to commit to phase out fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) despite support from 80 countries
• Removal of some clauses acknowledging human rights in Article 6
• Presence of over 600 fossil fuel representatives outweighing the whole of global society, youth, and children
• Dilution of equity language and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR)
• Failure to reflect in the Climate Deal (final document) the IPCC warning that carbon production must peak in 2025 if commitment to 1.5°C is to be kept, due to lack of consensus.

The simple and the complex in the COP process in Sharm el-Sheikh

In the COP process, there is the simple and the complex at each level. For the simple part, there are several quotes that define COP27.

The world is on the “highway to climate hell” by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, is a frank appeal where actions did not follow. There were some good moments while others faded. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Brazil is back and seeks to save the Amazon while Australia mumbled a general phasing down of commitments. The platform was given to Venezuela, one of the worst climate offenders, and described as an act similar to asking “an arsonist to put out a fire.” These are serious attitudes of political staging that further undermine the loose promises given when lacking integrity.

COP 27 in its last days still had “energy,” good human interaction, commitment, and the struggle for collaborative reasoning for action. Guterres has a cohort around him who resolutely believe in his endurance in the mission; where can be found one good man or woman, there are tens and hundreds by extension who simply work for the shared common good.

While there were weak outcomes, there was still integrity, upheld especially by Sameh Shoukry. In the end, there were voices in the wilderness such as Satyendra Prasad, the Fiji ambassador and permanent representative to the UN, who said that phasing down all fossil fuels will not keep us below 1.5°C.

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