Head of EU describes deal as 'small step towards climate justice'
Jennifer Rankin
The head of the EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen, has described the Cop27 deal as “a small step towards climate justice”, but said much more was needed for the planet.
In a dramatic U-turn on Friday, the European Union acceded to poor countries’ demands to create a new fund to address the loss and damage caused by global heating, a decision that paved the way for an agreement early on Sunday.
Senior EU figures responded cautiously to the outcome of the UN conference.
Von der Leyen said much more was needed for the planet: “We have treated some of the symptoms but not cured the patient from its fever,” she said in a statement.
“I am pleased that Cop27 has opened a new chapter on financing loss and damage, and laid the foundations for a new method for solidarity between those in need and those in a position to help. We are rebuilding trust.
“Cop27 has kept alive the goal of 1.5C. Unfortunately however, it has not delivered on a commitment by the world’s major emitters to phase down fossil fuels, nor new commitments on climate mitigation.”
The leader of the European parliament’s delegation to Sharm el-Sheik, the Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout, was blunter in his criticism. “Europe had to fight to the end to maintain last year’s ambition. But this is insufficient if we want to meet the climate goals. I can therefore only conclude that 2022 has been a lost climate year.”
He added that the Cop “achieved something after all” with the decision to create the loss and damage fund.
We’re winding up the blog now, but it has been an extraordinary and fascinating, if not always cheering, couple of weeks at Cop.
You can turn to my colleague Fiona Harvey’s long read on exactly what happened at Cop27 for all the drama – and the long, dull moments where nothing seemed to happen too.
But what happened today as the conference centre finally shut its doors?
John Kerry called on China to do more, saying: “As we continue to lead along with our allies and partners in the fight to protect our planet, the United States will also continue to press major emitters like China to significantly enhance their ambition to align with what science says is necessary.”
The EU president called the deal a “small step towards climate justice” but added that much more needed to be done.
The G77 bloc along with climate justice organisations welcomed the creation of a loss and damage fund as a “glimmer of hope” as War on Want’s Asad Rehman put it.
Everyone got a closer look at the text and picked out the new arrivals, including a first ever mention in the cover text for “tipping points”, and “nature-based solutions”.
And there was plenty of disappointment too, as people reflected on the failures – in particular the failure to incorporate the goal of phasing out fossil fuels.
It’s been a rollercoaster. Next year’s Cop will be in the United Arab Emirates. Thank you for joining us. If you’d like to support the Guardian just nip in here because we couldn’t do any of this without you all. See you in UAE.
My colleague Nina Lakhani has reported on the way that Pakistan was at the forefront of the battle to get the loss and damage fund finally set up this year.
The horrific floods that left a third of the country underwater earlier this year only spurred the resolve.
Pakistan brought that resolve to the negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh and, as president of the G77 plus China negotiating bloc, succeeded in keeping developing countries united on loss and damage – despite efforts by some rich countries to divide them. Its chief negotiator, Nabeel Munir, a career diplomat, was backed by a team of savvy veteran negotiators who had witnessed the devastation and suffering from the floods, which caused $30bn (£25bn) of damage and economic losses. Every day, Munir repeated the same message: “Loss and damage is not charity, it’s about climate justice.”
The conference has brought little relief for the family of the British-Egyptian jailed hunger striker Alaa Abd el-Fattah. His family were allowed to visit him a couple of days ago, and found him exhausted and weak.
A group of protesters wear T-shirts with #FREEALAA at Cop27. Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/AP
My colleague Ruth Michaelson has reported previously that “Abd el-Fattah is one of Egypt’s most prominent political prisoners, having spent most of the past decade behind bars. Last year, shortly after gaining British citizenship through his mother, the democracy activist was sentenced to a further five years in prison for sharing a social media post about torture. He began a hunger strike in April, consuming just 100 calories a day, which he escalated to forgo all sustenance and then even water on the day that Cop27 began in Sharm el-Sheikh.”
Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP for Brighton, tweeted about her sadness that Cop is over, but Alaa has still not been freed.
So incredibly sad & angry that #COP27 has ended yet Alaa has still not been freed. The British Government has failed him & must be held to account. How can he, as a British citizen, still not even be allowed consular access? How hard did they try? #FreeAlaa@FreedomForAlaahttps://t.co/Jp5isvxwl5
Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL and author of Hothouse Earth: an Inhabitant’s Guide, has written an opinion piece for the Guardian. In it, he eviscerates Cop27 and the UNFCCC process as a whole – a “bloated travelling circus”, he calls it – while also offering an alternative:
What is needed is an apparatus that is less cumbersome and more manageable – something leaner and meaner that zeros in on the most critical aspects of the climate crisis, that does its work largely hidden from the glare of the media, and which presents a less obvious honey pot to the busy bees of the fossil fuel sector. One way forward, then, could be to establish a number of smaller bodies, each addressing one of the key issues – notably energy, agriculture, deforestation, transport, loss and damage, and perhaps others.
Such bodies would operate full-time, liaising with one another and perhaps coming together a few times a year. Ideally, they would be made up of representatives from both developed and majority-world countries. In direct contact with representatives of national governments, part of their remit would be to negotiate agreements that are workable, legally binding, and which actually do the job – whether reversing deforestation, cutting methane emissions, or drawing down coal usage. As and when all terms and conditions are agreed, these could be validated and signed off by world leaders as a matter of course and without the need for the ballyhoo of a global conference.”
Looking ahead for a moment, next year’s UN climate summit will take place in Dubai in November/December 2023. (And as many commentators are pointing out, given Cop28 will be hosted by an oil state, the United Arab Emirates, it is difficult to imagine much progress on a phase-down of fossil fuels.)
Prof Mark Maslin, professor of climatology at the University College London, has shared his take on what the focus needs to be on in the intervening 12 months to achieve some progress:
“The lessons [of] the multiple failures of Cop27 for Cop28 in Dubai are fourfold:
1.Start the negotiations now and work hard for the next 12 months so that all countries are prepared to get a clear agreement by the end.
2. Run an open and transparent process so all countries understand what is being negotiated and trust can be repaired.
3. Push key countries to increase their ambition and submit improved pledges so there is a chance of sticking to the 1.5C limit with a focus on phasing out fossil fuels.
4. Rich nations including both high-income countries and emerging economies must contribute to adaptation funds and a transparent and an effective loss and damage facility. Climate justice will need to be at the heart of the negotiations for Cop28 as money will need to be put on the table for adaptation, loss and damages and rapid ramp up of renewables.”
The UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has made a statement on the outcome of Cop27, saying “there is no time for complacency” and that “more must be done” to keep 1.5C alive.
Ed Miliband, shadow climate and net zero secretary for the opposition Labour party – which has said it would stop granting new oil and gas licences in the North Sea and form an “anti-Opec” alliance of countries dedicated to renewable energy – argued that “there was a total absence of leadership from the UK PM”.
Miliband said Sunak’s “most memorable act was to decide not to go to Cop27, before he was forced to do so out of embarrassment”.
#COP27 has delivered an important step in recognising the consequences of the climate crisis for countries on its frontline. But yet again we hear the unmistakable sound of the can being kicked down the road on action to keep global warming to 1.5C - and it's now at grave risk.
Harriet Lamb, the CEO of climate solutions charity Ashden, also called out a lack of leadership from the UK:
Throughout the negotiations, Alok Sharma put in a heroic individual effort, but UK leadership was largely absent as the government sidestepped its responsibilities to push for those climate promises made in Glasgow to be turned into measurable funding flows.
Meena Raman, director of Third World Network, said:
Since the EU and Alok Sharma are disappointed that fossil fuel phase-out is not in the text, we would like them to take leadership and revise their NDCs [nationally determined contributions] and put into plans their fossil fuel phase-out urgently and stop expansion of fossil fuels including oil and gas. [It’s] not enough to play to the gallery but act if they really want to save the planet and not hide behind 2050 net zero targets, which will bust the remaining carbon budget for 1.5C.”
For the US, Cop27 has capped a sort of remarkable turnaround, writes US environment reporter Oliver Milman. Previously a staunch opponent of any sort of compensatory loss and damage fund for vulnerable countries, the US has ended up backing the creation of such a fund, a major triumph of the talks.
John Kerry, Joe Biden’s climate envoy who has been isolating after contracting Covid, said the US is “pleased” to support the new fund, after the Americans gained assurances that there would be no legal liability for climate damages suffered by other countries.
“The fund, which will be one among many available avenues for voluntary funding, should be designed to be effective and to attract an expanded donor base,” Kerry said in his closing statement, a nod to other countries the US expects to step up and perhaps a tacit acknowledgment that America has failed to meet previous promises to itself deliver climate finance.
Despite the lack of more ambitious language to cut emissions in the Cop27 text, Kerry was upbeat, saying that “make no mistake: we have kept the hope of 1.5 alive”, in reference to the agreed global temperature rise limit of 1.5C, which scientists now say is a remote possibility.
The former Democratic presidential candidate pointedly took aim at China, however, despite a slight thaw between the world’s two largest carbon emitters on climate issues following a diplomatic fallout. The US has wanted China to do more to accelerate emissions cuts and, in particular, commit to slash methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Kerry said:
Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Commission (left) fist-bumps US climate envoy John Kerry at Cop27. Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/AP
As I’ve said before, the climate crisis is fundamentally a global, not a bilateral, issue. Reducing emissions in time is about math, not ideology.
That’s why all nations have a stake in the choices China makes in this critical decade. The United States and China should be able to accelerate progress together, not only for our sake, but for future generations. And we are all hopeful that China will live up to its global responsibility.
As we continue to lead along with our allies and partners in the fight to protect our planet, the United States will also continue to press major emitters like China to significantly enhance their ambition to align with what science says is necessary.”
More broadly, Kerry said that the international community “must continue pressing for all major economies to align their 2030 targets with 1.5C, and to fulfill those targets by halting the construction of new coal, accelerating the deployment of clean energy, slashing methane emissions, and halting deforestation.”
The US came into the Cop27 talks in a bullish mood, following the passage of the inflation reduction act over the summer, which is the first major climate bill ever established by Congress.
The American delegation found itself under pressure in Sharm el-Sheikh, however, over the issue of loss and damage, as well as over a glut of new oil and gas projects at home, which Biden has somewhat awkwardly backed in an attempt to lower gasoline prices.
Emissions in the US are expected to rise by around 1.5% this year as the economy rebounds and more people start taking flights following Covid-related downturn.
More reaction to the deal is coming through, with the initial euphoria over the loss and damage fund giving way to sharp criticism of what was left out – in particular, the lack of a commitment to phase out fossil fuels, which in turn imperils 1.5C.
The environment director at Human Rights Watch, Richard Pearshouse, argues that despite the breakthrough on loss and damage, Egypt, the petro-states and the fossil fuel industry (who came to Cop27 in larger numbers than ever before) got what they wanted: “the text makes no mention of phasing out fossil-fuels and weakens reference to the science + the 1.5 degree target”
Despite the breakthrough on loss + damage, #COP27 failed on emissions. Egypt, petro-states + the fossil fuel industry got what they wanted: the text makes no mention of phasing out fossil-fuels and weakens reference to the science + the 1.5 degree targethttps://t.co/J2w134PbdW
Jeni Miller, at the Global Climate and Health Alliance of 130 health organisations, makes the link between a healthy planet and healthy people:
Despite support from over 80 countries, governments’ collective failure to deliver a clear commitment to phase out all fossil fuels puts us on course to go beyond the already dangerous 1.5C global temperature rise. Only full fossil fuel phase-out will deliver the maximum health benefits from clean air and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.”
Dr Sven Teske, at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, says:
By agreeing on a [loss and damage] fund without details and the 1.5C target remaining without the commitment to phase-out fossil fuels we technically accept to pay for future damages rather than avoiding them.”
Sir David King, former UK chief scientific adviser and chair of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, says we are still on track for well above 2C:
Even with the commitments made and re-affirmed [at Cop27] the world remains on track for 2.7C. By any measure, that represents a bleak future for humanity. Agreements on loss and damage, like any other support package, are only relevant if they are married with commitments that keep warming well below 1.5oC. One without the other is simply no good.”
Adnan Khan, Pakistan Red Crescent Youth Representative, calls on world leaders to act for the sake of future generations:
“One third of my country was underwater when floods ravaged Pakistan this year. My friends in other countries are losing their homes to storms, wildfires, and rain. Decisions made at Cop27 - about loss and damage, finance, and early warning systems - they determine my future and the future of young people. We are willing to do our part, but we need leaders to meet us on this path to change.”
I’m Natalie Hanman, head of environment at the Guardian, taking over from Bibi van der Zee, to bring you more reaction to Cop27, and analysis of what it all means. Contact me on natalie.hanman@theguardian.com and @nataliehanman. Thanks for reading
'The 1.5C climate goal died at Cop27 – but hope must not'
My colleague Damian Carrington has taken a searing look at what Cop27 meant for the goal of keeping global heating below 1.5C, and whether that means it is time to give up.
Does that mean giving up? Absolutely not. The 1.5C target is not a threshold beyond which hope also dies. Every fraction of a degree means an increase in human suffering and must therefore be fought for. How? With everything we have, to tear down the barrier between us and climate stability: the fossil fuel industry.
Instead, the fossil fuel industry and its unconscionable expansion plans will need to be fought elsewhere. The first place is in the mind. The global oil and gas industry has raked in an average equivalent of $1tn a year in unearned profits for the last 50 years by exploiting a natural resource that belongs to citizens. Imagine redirecting that financial firepower at decarbonising the world.
The fossil fuel industry can also be fought on the streets, in peaceful protest, and on the lands being despoiled by their expansion. Countries could shun petro-states by forming a “climate club”, a G7 proposal to enable the ambitious to race ahead and penalise the laggards.
Cop27 did achieve something. The new loss-and-damage fund promises to finance the rebuilding of poorer, vulnerable countries hit by increasingly severe climate impacts, which they have done little to cause. It is a long-overdue acknowledgment of the moral responsibility the big polluters have for the climate emergency. It is all the more important given that Cop27’s failure to meaningfully drive emissions cuts means even worse disasters are to come.
Is there hope? Yes, in that every climate action we take lessens the damage. As Cop27 closed, Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner, poet and climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, said: “I wish we had got fossil fuel phase-out. But we’ve shown with the loss and damage fund that we can do the impossible. So we know we can come back [to Cop] next year and get rid of fossil fuels once and for all.” I hope she is right. I fear she is wrong.
Head of EU describes deal as 'small step towards climate justice'
Jennifer Rankin
The head of the EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen, has described the Cop27 deal as “a small step towards climate justice”, but said much more was needed for the planet.
In a dramatic U-turn on Friday, the European Union acceded to poor countries’ demands to create a new fund to address the loss and damage caused by global heating, a decision that paved the way for an agreement early on Sunday.
Senior EU figures responded cautiously to the outcome of the UN conference.
Von der Leyen said much more was needed for the planet: “We have treated some of the symptoms but not cured the patient from its fever,” she said in a statement.
“I am pleased that Cop27 has opened a new chapter on financing loss and damage, and laid the foundations for a new method for solidarity between those in need and those in a position to help. We are rebuilding trust.
“Cop27 has kept alive the goal of 1.5C. Unfortunately however, it has not delivered on a commitment by the world’s major emitters to phase down fossil fuels, nor new commitments on climate mitigation.”
The leader of the European parliament’s delegation to Sharm el-Sheik, the Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout, was blunter in his criticism. “Europe had to fight to the end to maintain last year’s ambition. But this is insufficient if we want to meet the climate goals. I can therefore only conclude that 2022 has been a lost climate year.”
He added that the Cop “achieved something after all” with the decision to create the loss and damage fund.
One of the most significant achievements of Cop27, after the new fund for loss and damage, is on how to deliver the trillions of dollars needed to cut carbon emissions and adapt societies to the increasingly severe impacts of climate change.
Here’s what the Cop27 decision says, and I’ll explain below:
“[The world’s nations] call on the shareholders of multilateral development banks (MDBs) and international financial institutions to reform practices and priorities, align and scale up funding … and encourage MDBs to define a new vision that [is] fit for the purpose of addressing the global climate emergency.”
This is significant because such reforms really could deliver far higher levels of finance. The Cop27 call adds to pressure already coming from developing countries, under the Bridgetown Agenda championed by Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley, and from rich nations, including all of the G7, and recently the G20.
They are all demanding fast action, by spring 2023. As Mottley told Cop27, many of the nations at the summit did not even exist when the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other MDBs were set up after the second world war – they are no longer fit for purpose, she said.
The reforms are wide-ranging including, for example, co-investing with the private sector to drastically lower the interest on loans for renewables, a major barrier in developing nations. Another reform is large-scale deployment of “special drawing rights”, a type of funds that the IMF creates. Importantly, the Cop27 text calls for MDBs to take into account the high debt burdens many poor nations already have.
Aymara Indigenous women had a day of fasting earlier in the week, as they called for rain on the sacred Inca Pucara mountain in Bolivia, where the World Bank is financing at least one climate change related programme. Residents in the highlands of La Paz say the lack of rain and frost since September is not allowing them to plant potatoes, beans, carrots and peas. Photograph: Juan Karita/AP
Kate Levick, a sustainable finance expert at the thinktank E3G, said: “Finance issues were always going to be critical at this Cop, and sure enough in Egypt they tested the UN process to its limits, with a major gap between the expectations of different groups of countries on provision of climate finance. [But] there was a consensus that current financial architecture and rules are not adequate to meet the climate challenge. The final outcome called for financial system reform, and made a particularly strong set of requests to the MDBs.”
The UN Executive Secretary of Framework Convention on Climate Change Simon Stiell speaks at the closing plenary. Photograph: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters
Fiona Harvey has put together this essential guide to the key outcomes of Cop27. The loss and damage fund is a major milestone, she says, but now comes the difficult part.
There was much tussling over the Glasgow target of focusing on a 1.5C limit. “At Cop27, some countries tried to renege on the 1.5C goal, and to abolish the ratchet. They failed, but a resolution to cause emissions to peak by 2025 was taken out, to the dismay of many.”
Gas also did well out of the Sharm el-Sheikh conference, with a surprisingly large number of deals signed on the sidelines of the summit. Fiona writes: “The final text of Cop27 contained a provision to boost “low-emissions energy”. That could mean many things, from wind and solar farms to nuclear reactors, and coal-fired power stations fitted with carbon capture and storage. It could also be interpreted to mean gas, which has lower emissions than coal, but is still a major fossil fuel.”
There was no improvement on last year’s commitment to phase down the use of coal, despite intensive lobbying from many groups who wanted to get a commitment to ‘phase down all fossil fuels’ into the text.
But there was arguably some headway on reform of the global financial system, with a growing number of countries looking for urgent changes to the world’s multilateral banks which, they argue, are failing to provide the necessary funding. This is now a serious topic of discussion.
Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, made her mark at Cop26 in Glasgow, where she was a powerful voice for developing countries. In Egypt, too, she has again been a force to be reckoned with.
Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados. Photograph: Peter de Jong/AP
Sherry Rehman, the Pakistani climate minister, also played a vital part with her team of negotiators. Our reporter Nina Lakhani pointed out: “It’s worth noting the key role played by Pakistan in securing the historic agreement in creating a loss and damage facility. This year, Pakistan holds the presidency of the G77 negotiating bloc of developing countries plus China, and its negotiators came to Sharm el-Sheikh determined to secure the new funding mechanism after a catastrophic climate year.”
Rehman fought like a tiger for the loss and damage fund, and was justly overjoyed that it got through.
Sherry Rehman, minister of climate change for Pakistan, speaks during the closing plenary session. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP
And the Tuvalu finance minister, Seve Paeniu, gave an impactful speech, holding up a picture of his grandchildren, at a key moment. The island of Tuvalu in the Pacific region is fighting for its life in a way that other countries are not and he humblingly reminded other delegates of this fact.
The finance minister from Tuvalu in the South Pacific, Seve Paeniu, holds up an image of his grandchildren during the plenary session. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA
There were so many campaigners working hard to keep delegates focused on the global issues rather than just on their national responsibilities, such as the tireless Meena Raman, director of Third World Network, Harjeet Singh of the Climate Action Network and Mohamed Adow of Power Shift Africa.
But most of all, as in every year, it was the youth activists who held everyone’s feet to the fire, reminding delegates simply through their presence that they will take the brunt of any decisions made, or unmade at this Cop. Vanessa Nakate increasingly occupies a leadership position within the youth movement, but there is a whole new cohort of activists who are taking up the heavy responsibility of speaking truth to power, including Licypriya Kangujam and Mitzi Jonelle Tan.
Licypriya Kangujam during an interview with Reuters. Photograph: Emilie Madi/Reuters
And of course Nakeeyat Sam Dramani, the young poet from Ghana (just 10 years old), who implored delegates to ‘have a heart’.
Nakeeyat Sam Dramani, a young poet from Ghana, holds a placard after giving a speech about global warming during the conference. Photograph: Sedat Suna/EPA
This follows a major study in September that showed that climate crisis has driven the world to the brink of multiple “disastrous” tipping points, as reported by my colleague Damian Carrington at the time.
The report found that five dangerous tipping points may already have been passed due to the 1.1C of global heating caused by humanity to date.
At 1.5C of heating, the minimum rise now expected, four of the five tipping points move from being possible to likely, the analysis said. Also at 1.5C, an additional five tipping points become possible, including changes to vast northern forests and the loss of almost all mountain glaciers.
In total, the researchers found evidence for 16 tipping points, with the final six requiring global heating of at least 2C to be triggered, according to the scientists’ estimations. The tipping points would take effect on timescales varying from a few years to centuries.
