After a year of climate catastrophe – from floods in Pakistan to Europe’s worst drought in centuries, not to mention the escalating global energy crisis – there’s a lot riding on this year’s UN climate conference. Here’s what you need to know…
What is COP27?
COP27 is the next annual meeting of the 198 countries that signed the original UN climate agreement (the UNFCCC) back in 1992. Taking place from 6-18 November, it’s a summit for world leaders to come together and establish next steps to tackle rising global temperatures. Last year, Glasgow played host; for this year’s edition, Sharm El Sheikh takes centre stage, and the world will be looking on to see how many of last year’s promises have been kept.
What to expect – and what we’re hoping to see
The UN has published a calendar of themes for the conference, including finance, biodiversity and decarbonisation. One key issue that many activist groups are keeping their eyes on is the need to provide financing to countries that suffer loss and damage as a result of climate change. Developed countries recently missed a 2020 target to contribute $100 billion a year – this will remain on the agenda at this year’s conference.
Alongside delegates from more than 200 governments, COP27 will bring together environmental charities, businesses and think tanks – so we’re also looking forward to some exciting discussions between decision makers and global players in environmental science.
Progress since COP26
At last year’s COP26 – where we proudly launched Pinwheel – one agreement was to phase down subsidies for fossil fuels. But the language was watered down from “phased out” and no firm dates were set, while the energy crisis has since sparked a renewed urgency to secure supplies. One silver lining is that this may have sped up the transition to renewable sources in the medium term.
From our point of view, Pinwheel’s projects have made fantastic progress towards our planet-repairing goals since last year. Here’s looking forward to more inspiration at this year’s COP27.
