COP 27 Special Bulletin.
Environmental Law & Climate Change Department | COP 27 Special Bulletin
The 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (better known as COP 27) held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, concluded on November 18th, 2022.
The Parties’ diplomatic negotiations resulted in the adoption of several documents, including the Sharm El Sheikh Implementation Plan.
In addition, both countries and organizations announced new voluntary commitments within the framework of the climate change fight. Some of them will be briefly discussed below.
I. Sharm El Sheikh Implementation Plan
It is the main document adopted by the Parties in which the following points are mainly highlighted from the implementation point of view:
> Losses and damages
It creates a specific fund to help developing countries respond to losses and damages generated by climate change.
Launches the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage to channel technical assistance to developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
> Financing
Calls on shareholders of multilateral development banks and international financial institutions to (i) reform multilateral development bank practices and priorities, align and scale up financing, ensure simplified access and mobilize climate finance, and (ii) define a new vision and operating model accordingly, channels and instruments that are fit for purpose to adequately address the global climate emergency, including the deployment of a full suite of instruments, from grants to guarantees and non-debt instruments, taking into account debt and to address risk appetite, with a view to substantially scaling up climate finance.
Calls on multilateral development banks to contribute to significantly increase climate ambition by using the breadth of their financial policies and instruments to deliver better results (including mobilizing private capital, increasing financial efficiency, and maximizing the use of existing venture and concessional capital vehicles to drive innovation and accelerate impact).
It emphasizes that the global transformation to a low-carbon economy is expected to require investments of at least $4 trillion to $6 trillion per year and that raising this finance will require a rapid and complete transformation of the financial system and its structures and processes, involving governments, central banks, commercial banks, institutional investors and other financial actors.
> Energy
Calls upon Parties to accelerate the development, deployment and diffusion of technologies and the adoption of policies for the transition to low-emission energy systems, including by rapidly scaling up the deployment of clean energy generation and energy efficiency measures, including accelerating the phase-out of coal-fired power and phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.
It stresses the urgent need for “immediate, deep, fast and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions” by Parties across all applicable sectors, including through increased renewable and low-emission energy.
> Forests
It highlights the importance of protecting, conserving and restoring nature and ecosystems to achieve the temperature goal set forth in the Paris Agreement, as well as through forests and other terrestrial and marine ecosystems that act as sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases and protecting biodiversity, while ensuring social and environmental safeguards.
Encourages Parties to consider nature-based solutions or ecosystem-based approaches, considering United Nations Environment Assembly Resolution 5/5, for their mitigation and adaptation actions, while ensuring social conditions and environmental safeguards.
> Agriculture
The Sharm el-Sheikh 4-year joint work plan on implementation of climate action in agriculture and food security is created.
> Adaptation
Urges Parties to adopt a transformative approach to enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change.
II. Other announcements
In addition, several announcements were made at the conference, among which the following stand out:
> ENACT (Enhancing Nature-based Solutions for an Accelerated Climate Transformation)
The Egyptian Presidency of COP 27, Germany and IUCN announced the ENACT initiative for nature-based solutions that will coordinate global efforts to address climate change through nature-based solutions (NBS).
The initiative will generate an annual report on the status of nature-based solutions to be delivered to future COPs.
Among other objectives, the initiative aims to secure up to 2.4 billion hectares of healthy natural and sustainable agricultural ecosystems through the protection of 45 million hectares, the sustainable management of 2 billion hectares and the restoration of 350 million hectares.
> FAST (Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation)
It is an initiative developed and implemented by Egypt in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other stakeholders.
It aims to increase the quality and quantity of financing for agrifood systems to adapt to climate change and become more sustainable.
> FCLP (Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership)
The FCLP partnership was launched at COP 27 to galvanize action to implement the commitment made by more than 140 countries at COP 26 in Glasgow last year to halt forest loss and land degradation by 2030, thereby turning ambition into results on the ground.
27 countries, representing more than 60% of the world’s GDP and 33% of the world’s forests, have already joined the new partnership and have committed to lead by example in one or more of its areas of action.
These include mobilizing public and donor funds to support implementation, supporting the initiatives of indigenous peoples and local communities, and encouraging the conservation of high-integrity forests.
> IDRA (International Drought Resilience Alliance)
It is an initiative to accelerate action and help countries be better prepared for future droughts.
The Alliance will be assisted by an initial fund of 5 million euros announced by Spain to support the work and catalyze a process to mobilize more resources for this agenda, and a commitment made by the President of Kenya, William Ruto, to plant 5 billion trees in the next 5 years and 10 billion trees in 10 years.
The Alliance calls on leaders to make drought resilience a priority in national development and cooperation, including deepening the engagement of stakeholders, such as the private sector, in drought resilience work.
> Breakthrough Agenda
Countries gathered in the Breakthrough Agenda platform launched a package of 25 new collaborative actions in five key areas: energy, road transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture. Priority actions include agreements to:
– develop common definitions for sustainable low and near-zero emission steel, hydrogen and batteries.
– accelerate the deployment of essential infrastructure projects including at least 50 large-scale net-zero emission industrial plants, at least 100 hydrogen valleys and a package of major cross-border electricity grid infrastructure projects
– set a common target date for phasing out polluting cars and vehicles, in line with the Paris Agreement.
– use billions of pounds in public and private procurement and infrastructure spending to stimulate global demand for green industrial goods.
– boost investment in agricultural research, development and demonstration (RD&D) to generate solutions to address the challenges of food insecurity, climate change and environmental degradation.
> Integrity Matters Report
The UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel of Experts released the Integrity Matters Report at COP 27, which serves as a guide to ensure credible and accountable zero emission commitments by industry, financial institutions, cities and regions.
It contains 5 principles and 10 recommendations for setting and achieving net zero targets. These include the importance of radical transparency in sharing relevant and comparable information on plans and progress towards carbon neutrality targets, the use of high-quality voluntary carbon credits after value chain mitigation, among others.
> Early warning
UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced a $3.1 billion plan for the installation of systems to provide early warning of extreme and dangerous events.
> Global Shield against Climate Risks
The G7 and the V20 (“vulnerable twenty”) launched the Global Shield against Climate Risks, with commitments of over $200 million in seed funding to address weaknesses in the financial protection structure in climate-vulnerable economies through pre-agreed funding disbursed before or just after disasters occur. The first recipients of Global Shield packages are Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Fiji, Ghana, Pakistan, the Philippines and Senegal.
> Europe
During COP 27, Europe made a number of commitments to the climate agenda including:
– Signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Egypt to create a strategic partnership for renewable hydrogen that will support the EU’s ambition to reach 20 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen consumption by 2030 under the terms committed in the REPowerEU6 Plan.
– Launched the Energy Wealth Initiative to implement the energy pillar of the Water, Food and Energy Nexus initiative designed to accelerate the implementation of Egypt’s new 2050 climate change strategy, which was launched in May 2022. The energy initiative aims to close 5,000 MW of existing gas-based electricity generation capacity (equivalent to approximately 5% of Egypt’s total electricity supply) and facilitate investments to support the installation of 10,000 MW of new renewable energy capacity.
– Signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Namibia and another with Kazakhstan establishing a strategic partnership aimed at ensuring the development of a secure and sustainable supply of raw materials (such as lithium, cobalt and graphite for batteries), refined materials and renewable hydrogen to support Europe’s green and digital transformation under ESG criteria. The partnership will promote support to Namibia’s and Kazakhstan’s mining and renewable energy value chains.
– Together with other countries, they launched the Partnership for a Just Energy Transition (PJET) with Indonesia to support it in implementing an ambitious and just energy transition consistent with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
– The EIF is committing €250 million with five equity funds to mobilize €2.5 billion of climate action and environmental sustainability investment across Europe. The funds will contribute to investments in food innovation, renewable energy, energy efficiency, the circular economy, blue economy and water.
> United States of America
The initiatives announced by the United States during COP 27 include:
– strengthen global climate resilience by doubling the U.S. commitment to the Adaptation Fund to $100 million and announcing more than $150 million in new support to accelerate the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) across Africa;
– accelerating global climate action by launching a new initiative to support Egypt in the development of 10 GW of new wind and solar power and decommissioning 5 GW of inefficient natural gas generation, strengthening domestic methane regulations in the oil and gas sector that would reduce methane from covered sources to 87% below 2005 levels;
– catalyzing investment at the scale needed to address the climate crisis, including launching new and innovative approaches that strategically use public finance to unlock private investment, such as the Climate Finance + initiative that will support developing countries in issuing green bonds; launching the Sustainable Banking Alliance to deepen sustainable financial markets in developing countries; and undertaking strategic investments that help mobilize billions in private finance and facilitate the export of U.S. clean technologies;
– engaging the whole of society in the climate crisis fight, with the launch of a Gender Climate Equity Fund, an Indigenous Peoples’ Access to Finance Mechanism, and new exchanges to empower young people around the world to be resilience and clean energy leaders in their communities.
> Green Hydrogen Plant
During COP 27, the President of Egypt and the Prime Minister of Norway launched the first phase of a project to establish a green hydrogen plant with the capacity to produce 100 MW12. The plant will be built in the Egyptian region of Ain Sokhna, on the Red Sea coast, and will be implemented in cooperation with the Norwegian company Scatec.
III. Argentina
At COP 27 Argentina submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 2 instruments of its climate policy, previously approved by the National Climate Change Cabinet: (i) the National Adaptation and Mitigation Plan for 2030; and (ii) the Long-Term Low Emissions and Resilient Development Strategy.
The new Plan is made up of 250 actions and 49 guidelines that make up a roadmap to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt the territory to the effects of climate change.
Through the Plan, the country details the means and actions to be carried out to achieve the adaptation and mitigation goals set out in its second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and its update.
Mitigation goal: not to exceed the net emission of 349 MtCO2e by 2030, an objective applicable to all sectors of the economy.
Adaptation goal: build capacities, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change, in the different local governments and sectors, through measures that prioritize communities and social groups in a situation of vulnerability, and that incorporate the approach gender and intergenerational equity.
The main axes of the Long-Term Low Emissions and Resilient Development Strategy are: the transformation of the energy system, the food and forestry system, the transport system, the urban and territorial system and the protection of natural systems.
On the other hand, Argentina, which holds the pro tempore presidency of CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), presented a joint declaration of the climate change authorities of the countries that integrate the community. The statement calls for a greater provision of funds by developed countries for developing countries with a higher proportion of grants, loans and concessional financing in accordance with the obligations assumed in the Paris Agreement, stresses the need to capitalize existing environmental and climate funds such as the Global Environment Facility, the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund, and emphasizes the importance of promoting innovative climate finance instruments such as sovereign bonds, guarantee funds, debt-for-climate action swaps, among others.
Please, do not hesitate to contact us should you require any additional information on these matters.
Sincerely,
Manuel Frávega