Posted on 21 November 2022
The United Nation Climate Conference, COP27, closed on Sunday with a breakthrough agreement to provide loss and damage funds to vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters.
However, outcomes of the conference were far from perfect. Alok Sharma, the UK’s President of last year’s COP26, was scathing about failures to commit to below 1.5 degrees. While he said that progress on loss and damage has been “historic”, he warned that it was not a moment for “unqualified celebration”.
“We joined with many Parties to propose a number of measures that would have contributed to this. Emissions peaking before 2025, as the science tells us is necessary…. Clear follow-through on the phase down of coal. Not in this text…. A clear commitment to phase out all fossil fuels. Not in this text….And the energy text, weakened, in the final minutes.”
He continued: “I said in Glasgow that the pulse of 1.5 degrees was weak. Unfortunately, it remains on life support. And all of us need to look ourselves in the mirror, and consider if we have fully risen to that challenge over the past two weeks.”