Kochi: On November 7, Day 2 of the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) at Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, the World Leaders’ Summit kicked off.
The summit will be held over two days, November 7 and 8, and will include the delivery of national statements by heads and high-level side events as part of the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Summit and high-level round-table discussions. More than 100 heads of states and governments participated on the summit’s first day.
Call for an historic climate pact
Speaking first at the Summit, Egypt president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi threw light on the need to tackle climate change, and also called for the war between Russia and Ukraine to end. “This war must stop,” he said. “This is a sincere appeal.”
UN secretary-general António Guterres also addressed the gathering in the opening ceremony of the summit. “We are on the highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator,” he said.
He called on all G20 countries to cut down emissions, and added that emerging economies should contribute to this as well. He also called for a historic ‘Climate Solidarity Pact’ between these countries, one that should, among other things, also help provide universal, sustainable and affordable energy for all.
He added that adaptation resources are critical and half of climate change funding should focus on adaptation, that ‘loss and damage’ is an imperative and that a roadmap is crucial. Calling for a universal early warning system for five years, he said, “It is time for nations to come together for implementation.”
UK launches partnership to arrest forest loss
The United Kingdom launched the ‘Forests and Climate Leaders’ Partnership’, to track commitments on the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, which asked signatories to halt deforestation and land degradation by 2030. More than 100 leaders signed it at the Glasgow COP last year. India, however, chose to stay away.
The US and Ghana will co-chair the Forests and Climate Leaders’ Partnership. It is a voluntary partnership of 26 countries and the European Union, which together represent a third of the world’s forests.
The UK would commit 90 million GBP for conservation in the Congo Basin, and confirm 65 million GBP for the Nature, People and Climate Investment Fund which supports indigenous and local forest communities, a press release said.
In between the launch of the partnership however, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was suddenly escorted out of the room.
UK prime minister @RishiSunak has just been rushed out of the room by his aides during the middle of the launch for forests partnership at #COP27 pic.twitter.com/OQy9TYkqpX
— Leo Hickman (@LeoHickman) November 7, 2022
Also read: After Tall Speeches, UK Defaults on $288M Committed to Green Climate Fund
Round tables begin
The first high-level round tables for world leaders began on November 7. The themes of the first three (of the six round tables) focused on just transition, food security and innovative finance for climate and development.
Indian union environment minister Bhupender Yadav spoke at the High-Level Round Table to launch the executive action plan of ‘Early Warning For All’, a programme that will cover disaster risk knowledge, observations and forecasting, preparedness and response, and communication of early warnings.
UN secretary-general António Guterres launched the plan, which calls for a funding of $3.1 billion to implement this adaptation measure between 2023 and 2027. Per a government press release, he said that India fully supports the secretary-general’s agenda to achieve ‘Early Warnings for All’.
“India has been working on strengthening end-to-end early warning systems for all hydro-meteorological hazards”, he said. This has reduced deaths caused by cyclones by up to 90% over the last 15 years, he added.
He also touched on India’s Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, launched by India in the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit, which works towards developing climate forecasts and early warnings to help reduce losses.
Yadav also addressed the Middle East Green Initiative Summit, which aims to serve as a roadmap for regional climate action.
“India is committed towards clean and green energy source and [the] National Hydrogen Mission is a leap in that direction,” he said. India also initiated the International Solar Alliance, said Yadav, exhorting other members to join these coalitions too to achieve the world’s climate goals.
Farmers write to COP27
On November 7, over 75 farmers’ organizations penned an open letter to world leaders about the importance of adaptation funds to ensure food security for the world. It detailed that extreme weather is one of the many factors affecting food security, and that adaptation funds would be crucial to build resilient agriculture.
The letter also called for a shift away from industrial agriculture to help reduce emissions. The signatories to the letter include the World Rural Forum, which represents 35 million family farmers across five continents, and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, which represents 200 million small-scale producers.
“Beyond COP27, small-scale producers and the shift to sustainable food production must be a political priority,” the letter read. Discussions on food security were among the three round-tables that were expected to be conducted today.
‘Price of carbon has to increase’
Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, told Reuters that in order to reduce emissions to meet global climate goals, the price of carbon needs to average at least 75 USD a ton globally by the end of the decade. She was speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing COP27.
“Unless we price carbon predictably on a trajectory that gets us at least to [a] $75 average price per tonne of carbon in 2030, we simply don’t create the incentive for businesses and consumers to shift,” she said.
The current average price of carbon globally is $2 a tonne, according to one estimate.
On the cards tomorrow
On November 9, day 3 of COP27, the World Leaders Summit and its associated events including high-level round tables will continue for the second day. The topics will revolve around investing in the future of energy, water security, and climate change and the sustainability of vulnerable communities.
There will be several side events occurring alongside the COP too. One such event on November 8 will deal with discussions on the changes in European policies in energy since February 2022 due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.