THE 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) started Sunday in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm El-Sheikh, with countries jointly seeking to combat the global climate crisis.

In the past year, in addition to climate change and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has been battered by multiple crises such as geopolitical conflicts, higher energy and food prices, increasing inflation, and frequent extreme weather events.

Under such circumstances, the convening of the climate conference appears all the more important. Collective, complementary and collaborative actions by countries around the world to adapt to the effects of climate change, mitigate its negative repercussions, and provide finance have become the focus of this year’s conference agenda.

Urgent need for actions

Millions of people across the world have suffered in their daily lives because of the impacts of natural disasters and climate change. Europe has experienced unprecedented high temperatures and heatwaves, as well as droughts and wildfires. One third of Pakistan has been completely submerged by flooding. Powerful hurricanes have made thousands of families homeless in the United States.

Yet, Robert Stefanski, the World Meteorological Organization’s chief of Applied Climate Services, said 2022 may be the year with the best climate from now on. He warned that if the world does not take urgent actions, extreme weather events may become the “new norm” in the world.

Should global warming reach 3 degrees Celcius by 2100, according to a U.N. report, drought losses could be five times higher than they are today, with the largest increase in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic regions of Europe.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that by 2030 Africa will lose two-thirds of its arable land if desertification — the spread of arid, desert-like areas of land — continues at the current pace. Since the beginning of this year, many African countries are facing food shortages, even in countries with rich water resources.

The loss and damage caused by global climate change have become one of the top issues, said Egypt’s chief climate negotiator Ambassador Mohamed Nasr, adding that “the international response is still not up to the challenge of the impacts.”

COP27 will hold a round table summit on climate change and food security, during which initiatives on agriculture, food security and nutrition will be proposed, and agricultural solutions under climate change will be a priority in multilateral negotiations, the ambassador said.

“We have witnessed during this year painful events in Pakistan, the African continent and various parts of Europe and America. All these events and the destruction and impact represent a lesson to be learned all over the planet ... to more precaution, and to act quickly to take all necessary measures as per our commitments and pledges,” Egyptian Foreign Minister and COP27 President Sameh Shoukry said at the opening ceremony of COP27.

“Dealing with climate change problems is obligatory, not a choice,” said Egyptian climate and environment expert Magdy Allam. Under the slogan of COP27 — Together for implementation — the host country Egypt calls on countries across the globe to convert their previous commitments on climate change from lip service to action.

Climate debt of rich countries

“We know that we have reached a point where finance makes or breaks the progress of the program ahead of us,” Alok Sharma, president of COP26 hosted in Glasgow, Scotland, said Sunday during the opening ceremony, highlighting the role finance plays in the cause.

However, since the 2009 climate change conference in Copenhagen (COP15), developed countries have not been able to fully deliver on their commitment of providing US$100 billion of climate finance per year to developing countries.

“Parties enjoy getting into the process of planning all the time. But nothing is happening on the ground,” Nasr said. “Who will be paying the price?”

“Climate change-related efforts over the past decades were remarkably polarized, which has slowed down progress of the negotiations,” Shoukry said, adding the pledge to mobilize 100 billion dollars per year has not yet been honored.

African countries are far less to blame for global warming than developed countries, but suffer most from climate change.

Yasmine Fouad, Egypt’s environment minister and ministerial coordinator and envoy for COP27, noted that Africa accounts for only 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but suffers the most, and that 20% of its population live in countries most vulnerable to climate change.

As such, a significant step for unified efforts is that developed countries provide a constantly increasing amount of adaptation funds for developing countries, said Allam. “When soft loans and aid to poor countries increase, this will help reduce instances of chopping and burning forest trees in those countries,” he said.

“African countries have shown their willingness to confront climate change, but they need support,” Shoukry said.

Apart from urging developed countries to honor their pledge on current climate funding which focuses on cutting carbon emissions, this year’s conference also introduced climate reparations into its agenda so that vulnerable nations will receive money for the loss and damage they’ve suffered from climate change.

Green growth a common cause

Since the United States and the EU have imposed an embargo on Russian oil and gas after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the current energy crisis in Europe has forced many countries to fall back to traditional energy sources such as coal. Nord Stream pipeline explosions have released a large amount of natural gas into the atmosphere, putting global emission reduction goals in jeopardy.

“Europe, after the Russian gas was cut, tends to use any kind of fuel and escaped its climate change obligation,” Allam said, adding that “the Russia-Ukraine conflict is a reminder that we should find alternative energy sources, and veer toward a green economy.”

China’s Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua said Sunday at a side event of COP27 that China has been actively fostering its green energy sectors for years, while encouraging its citizens and private companies to participate in the efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

China will readily work with other countries to support COP27 and contribute its wisdom and strength to building a fair, reasonable and win-win global climate governance system, Xie said.

“Green development is not an alternative, but an irreplaceable way for the world to limit carbon emissions and protect the environment,” said Waleed Gaballah, professor of financial and economic jurisdictions at Cairo University.

Countries need to show faith in multilateralism as they negotiate to deliver on the goals of the U.N. Climate Convention and the Paris Agreement, Shoukry said.

“No one can be a mere passenger on this journey,” UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said Sunday at the opening ceremony of COP27.(Xinhua)