Despite longstanding objections from the US and the UK, negotiators for the first time have agreed to include loss and damage funding on the official agenda here at COP27 on the first day of the climate talks.
As the UNFCCC meeting began today in Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt, countries from the global north face intense pressure from the south to commit to funding not only for adaptation and mitigation but for irreparable damages already endured as a result of climate change.
The New York Times reports: “That’s a win for a bloc of poor countries and emerging economies, backed by China, that say they have lost money, land, livelihoods and human lives because of climate hazards disproportionately caused by the greenhouse gas emissions of rich, industrialized countries.”
"chronicle of climate chaos"
At the opening of the conference, Egyptian Foreign Minister and COP27 President Sameh Shoukry urged leaders to put aside concerns about food and energy challenges associated with the Russia-Ukraine war to address climate change during the COP.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to the conference via video, referring to the latest report from the World Meteorological Organization of the UN which noted that global temperatures have already risen by 1.15 degrees C . Guterres referred to the report as a “chronicle of climate chaos.”
COP27 officially kicks off Monday and Tuesday when world leaders attend the Leaders Summit, each speaking for five minutes about their hopes for the conference. Negotiations begin following the Leaders Summit.
Carbon Offsets: A twitter rant
A Twitter thread by attorney Sebastien Duyck (CIEL) refers to a pre-COP decision on GHG removals by the Supervisory Body, renumerating “a wide range of removals incl. engineering of the oceans to offset emissions despite the existence of an international moratorium prohibiting this.”
Duyck also criticizes the Supervisory Body for leaving environmental and social safeguards for GHG removals under the oversight of the host country.
Duyck is referring to the document Activities involving removals under the Article 6.4 mechanism
Relevant excerpts:
For the purpose of this guidance, “removals” are processes or outcome of processes to remove greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the atmosphere through anthropogenic activities and durably store in geological, terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs, or in products.
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Activity participants shall minimize and, where possible, avoid, negative environmentaland social impacts of an activity involving removals including impacts on biodiversity, landand soils, ecosystem health, human health, food security, local livelihoods, and the rightsof the indigenous peoples, by following requirements to be developed by the SupervisoryBody while acknowledging that the enforcement of environmental and social protectionlaws is a national prerogative of the host Party
From CIEL:
Submission from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) on the “Call for Input2022 – activities involving removals under the Article 6.4 Mechanism of the Paris Agreement”
Focusing on potential “removals” sometime in the future is a dangerous distraction that risks easing the pressure for urgently needed action to curb emissions now. Moreover, the IPCC’s Working Group I and Working Group II reports (as part of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)) recognize that responses to climate change, such as carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation management (SRM), not only may fail to meet their climate objectives, but also may introduce significant risks and unintended consequences for human and natural systems, exacerbating the impacts of warming and undermining adaptation.
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Engineered removals, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS), are speculative, cannot be deployed at scale, and pose significant risks to human rights and the environment, including threats to the rights of Indigenous Peoples, land rights, the rights to food, water, health, and culture, as well as the right to a healthy environment.
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), an enabling component for BECCS and DACCS, posess ignificant risks and uncertainties related to the capture, compression, transport and storage of CO2 and prolongs reliance on fossil fuels. On its own, CCS is not a removal technology; it is designed to reduce emissions from a polluting facility and primarily serves to prolong the facility’s operation.
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The Supervisory Body should prioritize establishing the policies needed to protect human rights, including the rights of indigenous peoples, and safeguard the environment, from the adverse impacts of any Article 6.4 activities, including by establishing a robust and accessible independent grievance redress mechanism.
… perhaps the most urgent goal for COP27 is to reckon with the lunacy of continued fossil fuel expansion. The International Energy Agency and other researchers have concluded that no new oil and gas development can take place if we hope to meet the 1.5-degree target. Meanwhile, several major coal producers are planning on continuing or increasing production, and most major oil and gas producing countries are on track to increase production through 2030 or beyond. In fact, energy plans indicate that governments around the world are planning for more than twice the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than would be compatible with the Paris agreement.
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