Countries should prioritise delivering on existing plans to cut carbon emissions rather than drawing up fresh strategies to achieve the 1.5掳C temperature goal, according to one of Egypt鈥檚 leading climate diplomats.
The COP27 summit will be a 鈥渞eality check鈥� to make sure that climate pledges already made on聽UN stages are being delivered in nations around the world, according to Mohamed Nasr, Egypt鈥檚 chief climate negotiator.
At last year鈥檚 COP26 summit in Glasgow, UK, countries pledged to put forward bolder carbon-cutting plans聽鈥� so-called nationally determined contributions, or NDCs聽鈥� within a year. At the time, this was seen as a vital collective promise that would fulfil the summit鈥檚 aim of keeping the 1.5掳C temperature goal alive.
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Yet, under the leadership of聽Egypt, the COP27 conference isn鈥檛 set to be a crunch moment for nations to deliver on that promise. Rather than conjuring up 鈥渘ice numbers that make headlines鈥�, Egypt will instead focus on generating the financial and technical support that vulnerable countries need to聽start聽cutting emissions immediately, says Nasr.
鈥淲hat we are hearing from people who are impacted on the ground is 鈥榚nough planning and planning and coming back with new initiatives and development plans鈥欌�� How much of it is happening on the ground? This聽is聽a reality check,鈥� he says.
鈥淲e can have too many plans,鈥� says Nasr. 鈥淏ut if we do聽not deliver on them, then we聽are not聽really serious about dealing with climate change.鈥�
The focus on implementation is a subtle shift away from the priorities of the UK鈥檚 COP presidency, which ends on 6 November as COP27 gets started. Under the leadership of COP26 president Alok Sharma, the UK was laser-focused on urging countries to move faster on cutting emissions and to adopt longer-term net-zero targets.
For Egypt, financial support for聽more vulnerable nations is聽a聽priority. High-income countries are still yet to fulfil a聽long-overdue commitment to channel $100 billion a year of climate finance to less wealthy nations. The deadline was 2020, but the latest estimates suggest the聽pledge won鈥檛 be met until next year at the earliest. More support to help countries adapt to聽the escalating impacts of climate change has also been promised, but not yet delivered.
鈥淵es, let鈥檚 push for enhanced NDCs, but how can developing countries enhance their NDC when they are not seeing funding聽even for their original NDC? This is something that we聽are hearing loud and clear,鈥� says Nasr. 鈥淲e need to deliver on聽the finance score.鈥�
He admits that the consensus-based UN climate process is a 鈥渇ragile regime鈥�, particularly in the wake of the turmoil of the past year, which has seen spiralling global inflation, an energy crisis sparked by Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine and rising tensions between the US and China.
In that context, convincing world leaders to turn up in Sharm El Sheikh would be a victory of sorts, says Nasr. 鈥淪uccess on the ground, at this very difficult time, is having a substantial number of heads of states coming and confirming that climate change is still their priority.鈥�
It is a barbed remark perhaps aimed at UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, who provoked international criticism by announcing that he won鈥檛 be attending the summit. King Charles also won鈥檛 attend the conference, on the advice of the government. Nasr says there is still an 鈥渙pen invitation鈥� to both men to join the event.
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