This is the last post for 2022. I will be back on January 9, 2023.
The other day, as I was mulling over what to write about, it came to me that the world just went through COP27 (the global banquet on climate change) in late November in Egypt. I suddenly realized that in the early conference days, I followed it more or less diligently, but then it seemed that it fell off the media priority. So I did some search to find out what happened at end. And there I realized that not much happened.
‘How can you say that?’, you ask, especially with the fact that the delegates stayed longer to hammer out an agreement on ‘Loss and Damage’ fund, which was finally signed! Well, read on.
You see, everywhere I looked (and that was also my impression when I was following the conference), I found no true nor new agreements: No new emission reduction targets, and no proof of being on track to limit the planet’s warming to 1.5°C or less. In fact, many scientists say that Earth is on track for a 2.4°C to 2.8°C increase by the end of the century! So, most of the real things did not change, and looking at how many countries are reverting back to increased fossil fuel to compensate the shortcomings in energy, well we can see where we are NOT going!
But, what about the Loss and Damage Fund, where countries have committed to create a fund to support vulnerable countries (interesting term to avoid saying ‘poor countries’ that no one wants to be a part of) in this challenge? Especially since one of the main objectives of next year’s COP28 is to operationalize the fund. Isn’t that a tremendous achievement? Well, continue reading.
First of all, only a handful of countries (Scotland, Denmark, Austria, New Zealand, and Belgium) made any financial commitments. Secondly, countries such as China, India, Brazil and Indonesia, are considered to be ‘developing countries’ and are thus exempt from contributing to the fund! Third, we have no commitment from most of the other countries. And above all, if we look back at 2009 COP (Copenhagen) and 2015 COP (Paris) where, the rich countries’ pledges of $100billion for the period leading to 2014 were enshrined, the commitments to 2020 have not been met! This is no surprise, for as we know, from pledge, to commitment and to payment there is a vast continuum of human behavior: Talk with a big mouth, and act with small hands!
Paris, December 15, 2022
Zeejay