The 2022 COP 27 – UN Climate Conference took place in Egypt on November 6th to 18th. This event brings together governments, diplomats, political scientists, specialists, civil society and private entities to discuss, plan and promote the implementation of new practices to combat the climate events that cause great loss of human life, in addition to negative impacts in environmental, social and economic spheres.
The agreements and consensus that emerged at this conference will directly impact the evolution and quality of ESG agendas in organizations. Do you know what happened at the conference and how the decisions can influence your sustainability targets? If you don’t know yet, you can learn more about the advances and pending issues of COP 27 below.
Together for implementation
The COP 27 slogan “Together for implementation” makes it clear that we need united and timely action to address the challenges of climate change. The conference took place at a time of great global instability, with the war between Russia and Ukraine, and of worsening climate change as witnessed in recent extreme climate events.
In this context, the event was very important for renewing the targets established in previous COPs and, above all, for ensuring compliance with the agreements and partnerships that were established previously to accelerate climate action to ensure a sustainable future for the next generations.
The 2022 COP 27 was organized around the following topics: finance, science, youth and future generations, decarbonization, adaptation, agriculture and food systems, gender, water, climate ambition plans, civil society, energy, biodiversity and solutions.
As you can see, these topics are aligned with global and national agendas on ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) issues.
On the last day of the conference, they had to prolong the conference due to a lack of consensus on strategic points for combating global warming, such as the creation of a financial mechanism to compensate losses and damages and ensure investments for the climate fund.
Loss and damage fund
In the UN climate negotiations, “loss and damage” refers to costs incurred as a result of extreme weather events or climate impacts such as rising sea levels. The fund specifically covers the costs of damages from events that countries cannot avoid or adapt to. Recent examples are the historic floods in Pakistan and Nigeria in 2022.
During COP 27, the call for rich nations to compensate poor countries affected by extreme climate events resulted in a concrete solution. However, it is not yet clear where the contributions for this fund will come from and which countries will receive the resources. Discussions on this issue should be held before the next COP – and even after that.
Nature-based Solutions
The concept of Nature-based solutions (NbS), as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), refers to actions to protect, manage and restore natural ecosystems in a sustainable and effective manner, taking into account the complexities and well-being of humans and biodiversity. The concept includes the idea of intelligent land management practices to reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
A novelty in the report on actions discussed at COP 27 was the mention of NbS. In the document, article XIV “encourages Parties (States participating in the COP) to consider, when appropriate, nature-based solutions or ecosystem-based approaches.”
Paris Agreement
The Paris agreement determines an average global temperature increase of 1.5°C as the “safe limit” to avoid more severe impacts of climate change. That is, this is the limit in the increase of average global temperatures that we have to attain by the end of the century to avoid the consequences of anthropogenic climate change from increasing emissions of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Many of the countries participating in the Paris Agreement have done nothing to meet the targets. While there have been improvements, current climate commitments should reduce emissions by just 7% by 2030, far below the target of 43%, compared to 2019 levels.
At COP 27, it was expected to reach a determination on global greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 to ensure that global warming does not exceed the 1.5°C limit by 2100.
However, discussions at COP 27 failed to reach a consensus. The COP 27 final report does not mention a peak in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and does not commit countries to drastically reducing their emissions. This was one of the topics that remains pending at the conference.
Frustrated financing
The promise of USD 100 billion/year for poor countries, agreed upon at the 2009 COP, continues undefined. Despite the UN agreeing that the required amount would be approximately USD 200 billion a year, not even the initial target was met and some countries are suggesting other financial mechanisms, such as insurance against climate change.
Greenwashing
To combat accusations of greenwashing and vague sustainability targets, a set of clear guidelines was published at COP 27 to set standards for the path to net zero emissions. These guidelines were launched jointly by the UN and ISO and developed by a group of 1,200 organizations and experts from over 100 countries.
These guidelines can be used as a central reference on net zero emissions to align expectations, increase ambition and address greenwashing.
Although roughly 80% of global emissions are addressed with net-zero emission pledges, many organizations lack a clear strategy. The new ISO guidelines are intended to provide practical guidance.
Success or failure?
Some would say that COP 27 was a great disappointment, especially considering that the 196 participating countries were unable, or unwilling, to address the environmental impacts caused by burning fossil fuels and the lack of commitment by countries to drastically reduce their emissions. Such an important issue, for which people expected concrete actions, left a lot to be desired at this conference.
On the other hand, a great success was the recognition, for the first time, of the need to financially help the most vulnerable countries to compensate the damages caused by global warming. As Mohamed Adow, executive director of the NGO Power Shift Africa said: “COP 27 did what no other COP has done.”
What we now expect is that the targets defined in the Sharm El-Sheikh Implementation Plan are met and that, once governments and countries commit, organizations will take the necessary actions. And you? Are you ready to include COP 27 targets in your ESG?
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