Cop27 is finally over, after two weeks of negotiations, which have become very close in recent days: delegates from 200 states and international organizations went into extra time all Saturday to finish on Sunday morning, while the event pavilions were cleared and general cleaning began. How is the glass of the final result, presented in the unanimously voted agreement? Quick answer: it’s half.
Half empty if we look at the very little progress on mitigation issues: there hasn’t been the hoped-for push for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Many countries have given up, in a year of energy and geopolitical crisis, to renew their CO2 reduction targets. And a clear path has not been found to keep alive the +1.5°C global warming target, the only one that avoids even worse effects of the climate emergency (today we are already at +1.2°C compared to the pre-industrial era). Half empty if we observe the scarce progress achieved on the civil rights front: the COP in Sharm el-Sheikh could have been an opportunity for Egypt to widen the country’s democratic net, given the strong push from leaders and activists, who united under a single banner instant environmental and civil. But political prisoners, including Alaa Abdel Fattah, have not been released and censorship and surveillance have certainly not diminished.
The glass is half full, however, if we look at another key aspect of the negotiations. We have made huge and historic strides in order to loss and damage (losses and damages): the final agreement provides that in the next few years a fund must be created to compensate the most vulnerable countries from the effects of climate change, caused by the countries of the Global North, rich and historic polluters. This is a game-changer for climate diplomacy. At the beginning of COP27 it was a faint hope, but in these two weeks the momentum has grown day after day, thanks to the many voices that have recounted the damages of a climate that has already changed and is hitting harder and harder.
In recent weeks we have repeated that the great goal of this COP was to have brought to the fore a question that has remained hidden for too many years: “Who has to pay for the ongoing climate crisis?”. Finally the rich countries have raised their hand. Guided by the European Union which has opened up to the fund just in the last few days loss and damage: the EU – which then came out disappointed by the final agreement due to the renunciations on the issues of mitigation – has shown itself to be the protagonist in the fight against climate change and this can give us hope for the future. Of our continent and beyond.
We finally raised our hand, willing to pay the bill. But at the same time we put our heads down, once again. We are ready to finance, adapt to a less hospitable world, and even compensate those who suffer the worst consequences, but we are not yet ready to address the root of the issue. That is, the elimination of coal, oil and gas. The uncontrolled use of fossil fuels is the cause of the greenhouse effect and therefore of climate change. Once again we have given up agreeing on their reduction, which must be progressive but drastic. They opposed an agreement on the phase down (gradual reduction) of oil and gas precisely the states that produce more crude oil, which forced the revision of the final text. It is not a good premise for the next COP, Cop28, which will be held in Dubai in November 2023: how can one ask for the reduction of fossil fuels in one of the countries that produces the most oil?
The glass is half empty because even if you fill it up, the water disappears. Evaporate under the scorching sun of Sharm el-Sheikh. Under the Dubai sun. Under the sun that beats more and more all over the world, from North to South: an increasingly hotter planet, increasingly at the mercy of the elements.