COP27: Agenda finalised as Johnson slams ‘corrosive cynicism’ of net zero sceptics

The COP27 Climate Summit got off to a broadly encouraging start yesterday after country delegations finalised the formal agenda for the fortnight-long negotiations and over 100 world leaders arrived in Sharm El Sheikh to attend the high-level leaders’ segment of the talks.

After a marathon 48 hours of pre-Summit talks, the agenda for the official negotiations was confirmed yesterday and in an early breakthrough for developing economies Loss and Damage was included on the agenda for a COP Summit for the first time.

Confirming the move at a press conference yesterday, the new UN climate change chief Simon Stiel said “loss and damage has to be credibly addressed and the time has come for us to do so”.

But he added that “the real test will be the quality of the discussions – the judgement will be based on the quality of the outcome”.

Several industrialised nations remain fiercely opposed to any form of Loss and Damage funding that could be interpreted as an admission of liability for climate impacts and as such observers remain sceptical that COP27 can finalise a deal on a new funding mechanism.

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However, last year’s Glasgow Climate Pact saw countries agree to a two-year programme of talks on the issue with the goal of delivering a formal Loss and Damage mechanism. A number of industrialised countries have signalled they are willing to pay into such a fund, fuelling hopes progress can be made towards a deal over the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, industrialised nations are today expected to face fierce criticism from climate vulnerable countries and green groups following fresh analysis that suggests the US, UK, Canada, and Australia are billions of dollars short of providing their “fair share” of climate funding.

The report from Carbon Brief calculates that out of the $100bn a year from 2020 that industrialised nations agree to mobilise under the Paris Agreement the US should have provided $40bn in 2020 based on its historic emissions.

But the US provided just $7.6bn in climate funding. Australia and Canada similarly provided only around a third of their “fair share” of funding, while the UK provided around three quarters of its calculated share, falling short by $1.4bn.

The analysis echoes repeated studies from green groups and developing economies which have accused industrialised nations of routinely falling short of their climate funding pledges and delivering much of the support they do provide through financing agreements rather than direct funding.

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Separately, The Times reported today that the UK government is using billions of dollars of domestic spending to count towards its overseas aid budget, further fuelling concerns that climate funding could be curbed as part of the Treasury’s upcoming Autumn Statement, which is expected to include “eye-watering” spending cuts.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will today attempt to address concerns over climate funding by unveiling a major new international climate package designed “to deliver on the UK’s Glasgow legacy at COP27”.

The UK government said it would commit to triple funding for climate adaptation as part of its £11.6bn international climate finance budget, rising from £500m in 2019 to £1.5bn in 2025.

In addition, £65.5m will be announced for new green tech innovation and clean energy investments in Kenya and Egypt, alongside more than £150m for protecting rainforests and natural habitats, including the Congo Basin and Amazon.

Addressing the Summit later today following his last minute decision to attend, Sunak will say: “The world came together in Glasgow with one last chance to create a plan that would limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees. The question today is: can we summon the collective will to deliver on those promises?

“I believe we can. By honouring the pledges we made in Glasgow, we can turn our struggle against climate change into a global mission for new jobs and clean growth. And we can bequeath our children a greener planet and a more prosperous future. That’s a legacy we could be proud of.”

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Sunak is also set to attend the launch of a new Forests and Climate Leaders’ Partnership, which will initially comprise 20 countries that will meet twice yearly to track commitments against the landmark Forests and Land Use declaration at COP26, which aims to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030.

To support the partnership, the UK is set to commit £90m for conservation in the Congo Basin and £65m for a new Nature, People and Climate Investment Fund, which supports indigenous and local forest communities around the world.

However, critics were quick to note that the UK’s latest funding commitments do not amount to an increase in its overall climate finance budget.

“Rishi Sunak’s opening speech makes the right noises but the hard currency of global climate diplomacy are actions, not words,” said Greenpeace UK’s head of politics Rebecca Newsom. “And the UK government’s actual record is sending a different signal. Not only do the UK’s policies completely fail to match up to its climate targets, but it has also failed to pay more than $300m promised to support developing countries deal with devastating climate impacts.

“If Sunak wants the UK to be a global climate leader, he needs to rule out new oil and gas drilling, invest in home insulation, and back the demands of developing nations for a loss and damage finance facility… People will soon forget what the prime minister said at this summit, but they will long live with the consequences of his actions,” she added.

Sunak’s speech will inevitably be contrasted with that of Boris Johnson who has been invited to the Summit by the Egyptian Presidency and this morning took part in a public Q&A in which he attacked Conservative colleagues who have pushed to “frack the hell out of the British countryside”.

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He argued that Russia’s war on Ukraine had emboldened critics of the net zero transition who argue countries should ramp up fossil fuel production, but he stressed that it was time to “tackle this nonsense head on”.

“Because the spike in oil and gas prices – and the consequent global inflation, the hikes in the cost of fertiliser and food, have had an impact here and everywhere, they have led some naysayers to a corrosive cynicism about net zero,” he said, adding that “this is not the moment to abandon net zero… This is not the moment to turn our backs on renewable technologies.”

“We must end the defeatism that has crept in since last year, we must end Putin’s energy blackmail, we must keep up our campaign to end global dependence on hydrocarbons, and if we retain the spirit of creative and Promethean optimism we saw at Paris and Glasgow, then we can keep [the] 1.5C [limit on global temperature rises] alive,” Johnson said.

World leaders will address the Summit from this afternoon, as diplomats begin formal negotiations that are expected to focus on how to boost flows of climate finance and ensure more countries strengthen their national climate action plans.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Summit yesterday, Stiell challenged Ministers and diplomats to map out a “new direction” for the UN climate talks.

“With the Paris Rulebook essentially concluded thanks to COP26 in Glasgow last year, the litmus test of this and every future COP is how far deliberations are accompanied by action,” he said.

“Everybody, every single day, everywhere in the world, needs to do everything they possibly can to avert the climate crisis. COP27 sets out a new direction for a new era of implementation: where outcomes from the formal and informal process truly begin to come together to drive greater climate progress – and accountability for that progress,” he added.

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As such, he called on governments to focus on translating the Paris Agreement into concrete actions, cementing progress from workstreams on mitigation, adaptation, finance, and loss and damage, and enhancing transparency and accountability against national climate action and financing pledges through the UN process.

Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs and COP27 President, argued the Summit should present a “watershed moment” for global climate action.

“Multilateralism is being challenged by geopolitics, spiraling prices, and growing financial crises, while several countries battered by the pandemic have barely recovered, and severe and depleting climate change-induced disasters are becoming more frequent,” he said.

“COP27 creates a unique opportunity in 2022 for the world to unite, to make multilateralism work by restoring trust and coming together at the highest levels to increase our ambition and action in fighting climate change. COP27 must be remembered as the ‘Implementation COP’ – the one where we restore the grand bargain that is at the centre of the Paris Agreement.”