What happened during COP27?

COP27 comes to an end focusing on the need to increase financing for countries affected by the climate crisis and the reduction of CO₂ emissions, in addition to the use of nature as a weapon to stop climate change.

During the last two weeks, nearly 200 countries have met and have put proposals and possible solutions on the table to slow down climate change as much as possible.

The EU presents a plan to cut emissions

The European Union has presented a plan to reduce its emissions by 2% by 2030. To do so and achieve its goal, it will be done through the adaptation that we have already talked about previously, energy savings and increased investment in renewable energy.

In addition, since the war broke out in Ukraine, more and more people say that the EU will look for supplies of fossil fuels in Africa.

Financing against extreme weather

The participants in COP27 have pledged a total of 172 million dollars to the Adaptation Fund for developing countries, an amount of money that will help the communities that are most affected by climate change and that most problems have when it comes to adapting to it.

The Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Spanish Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, has led the mediation of the negotiation between countries on adaptation. In the case of Spain, a total of 19.9 million will be contributed to this fund.

In addition to the Adaptation Fund, there is also another fund for Climate Change that aims to help cover the most urgent needs of vulnerable countries that need it most.

Solid financing to help the most vulnerable countries

It is not the first time that financing for poor countries has been discussed, but so far nothing has been done about it. Now, experts from the United Nations have published a list of 120 projects with an approximate cost of 120,000 million euros with the aim of helping the countries that suffer the most from climate change.

The main objective is to seek solid financing to be able to put all these plans into action and help the countries that need it most to reduce CO₂ emissions and, at the same time, help them adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis. Until this financing is obtained, it will not be possible to help the poorest countries to reduce emissions.

The problem is that countries like Germany, Austria and the United States -among others- have announced financing commitments that are well below the billions that poor countries need to deal with the ravages caused by climate change; such as droughts, major floods or the annual rise in sea level.

Nature as a solution against climate change

This is the first time in all the COPs that nature has been given such importance as a key tool to stop and refute climate change as much as possible. The presidency has launched an alliance between various agencies and countries to increase research and take action.

There has also been talk of plans to protect our biodiversity and the conservation of nature, such as the main carbon sinks on the planet, our oceans and our forests.

Decarbonization

Decarbonization plans are advancing slowly, but positively. For now, an action plan has been set out that will help accelerate decarbonization through progress in major sectors such as energy, road transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture. No news is expected until the next COP.

Decarbonization measures are designed to reduce energy costs, in order to reduce emissions and increase food security for millions of people around the world. We are talking about an international clean technology plan to help achieve the goal of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 °C.

Controversies during COP27

Throughout Saturday and as reported by El Mundo, "the European Union has threatened to abandon the Climate Summit negotiations in the final stretch due to pressure from various countries to renounce the objective of a maximum increase in temperatures of 1.5 degrees and in the absence of an agreement to create a "loss and damage" fund for the most vulnerable countries. For now, the debate continues.

On the other hand, one of the controversies that has most stained the name of COP27 is its sponsor: Coca-Cola, the largest plastic polluter in the world. How can the big climate change conference accept sponsorship from a company that represents what they want to end up with?

During COP27, the Egyptian government has also been criticized for banning demonstrations, and thousands of people were arrested for demonstrating at the tourist hub of Sharm El-Sheikh, where the summit was being held.

COP27 seems to be a summary of the last COPs, a two-week meeting in which empty promises are made that are not fulfilled or, at least, not fulfilled in their entirety. A summit that, on many occasions, comes to threaten human rights and that in itself is nothing more than a meeting of hypocrites.

While the different countries talk about the importance of reducing CO₂ emissions, they have all flown to Egypt with private jets… but the climate change’s fault seems to lie with ordinary citizens who drive to work.