– We were heavily in overtime and it was closer to 6 o’clock in the morning here Egyptian time before we could actually end the meeting, said Climate and Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide (Ap) to news. The almost 200 member states of the UN Climate Convention finally managed to agree on a joint final declaration after this year’s climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. But what did the parties actually agree on, and what did they not agree on? and what kind of significance will it have for next year’s climate summit in Egypt? TIRED: In the middle of the night, the message came that the parties had agreed. 36 hours of overtime, several delegates noticed on their bodies that they were tired. Photo: Peter Dejong / AP Loss and damage During this year’s climate summit, the parties to the UN climate convention decided that a fund should be set up to help particularly vulnerable countries deal with destruction caused by climate change. Extreme droughts, floods, fires, heat waves and other forms of extreme weather occur more often, and they become more intense as a result of climate change. Poor countries are most vulnerable and have the fewest resources to deal with these consequences. It does not help that it is the poor countries that have contributed the least to climate change. The consequences hit them hardest. 20 percent of the world’s population lives in Africa, but they account for only three percent of greenhouse gas emissions, according to figures from the International Energy Agency. THUMB: The president of the climate summit Sameh Shoukry bangs through the closing statement from this year’s climate summit. Photo: Peter Dejong / AP It is historic that they have agreed on a “loss and damage” fund. It was only this year that this became an official item on the agenda. Work has been going on for many years to get this on the agenda, and it was only after the summit started that it became so. It was a sore spot for a long time, according to Steffen Kallbekken. He is a research leader in Cicero. Developing countries have wanted to set up a fund for several years, but there has been a lot of opposition from Western countries. Nevertheless, it turned out as the developing countries wanted. Pakistan’s climate minister Sherry Rehman has hailed the agreement. Smoke rising from BASF’s chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Monday, November 7, 2022. Photo: Michael Probst / AP Emissions cuts While the agreement on loss and damage is being referred to as a major victory, the item on emission cuts is being described as the big disappointment of the year. Although the countries still agree to limit warming to 1.5 degrees, several countries believe that the agreement was not clear enough on how to achieve this goal. There was tension in advance as to whether the world would go further than last year’s meeting in Glasgow. In Glasgow, they agreed on a formulation to phase down coal. This year, some countries, such as India, want a point that the world should use less or completely stop using coal, oil and gas. Others, wanted to keep the wording about coal. And then there are some who don’t want to say anything at all. – Countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia were against mentioning fossil fuels in the final declaration, says Cicero researcher Steffen Kallbekken. FOSSIL: The final closing statement mentions neither oil nor gas. Here is the oil and gas plant in Granum, Alberta in Canada. Photo: Todd Korol / Reuters In the end, it was agreed to repeat the wording about coal. The document mentions neither oil nor gas. Several people refer to this as a big disappointment, including several environmental organisations. Secretary General of WWF Norway Karoline Andaur calls it an insult to the planet. – It is positive that the need to deal with the consequences of climate change is recognised, but we are extremely disappointed that the countries of the world do not realize that the best way to do this is to stop using fossil energy. – At COP27, we had to fight to keep the decision from last year. So we haven’t progressed since Glasgow, says Andaur. Climate and Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide was not particularly satisfied with the final statement regarding this point either. – We would also like to have clearer language on the phasing out of fossil energy sources without carbon capture, so we are half-satisfied with that, but all in all, we managed to land this meeting, he says. COP: Next year’s climate summit will be held here in Dubai. Photo: GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP Much needs to be clarified next time Next year the climate summit will be held in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The final declaration from this year’s climate summit means that there are several things that need to be clarified at this meeting. Firstly, the agreement on loss and damage is that a fund should be established. How this is to be solved in practical terms is not yet completely clear. The parties agreed to set up a committee which will make recommendations on how this should be done and how it should be financed. – Here you will probably argue about what the fund should contain, what kind of measures should be financed, who should pay in, and how much, says Kallbekken. In addition, the environmental foundation Bellona believes that several things about this year’s closing statement are unclear. These things should be made concrete during next year’s climate summit. – There are still many formulations that are poor and unclear. Next year’s COP in Dubai will be very important, both for solving all these problems and for restoring the Paris Agreement’s ability to solve the climate crisis, says Frederic Hauge, head of Bellona.
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This is the most important thing to take away from this year’s climate summit – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
