(Credit: COP27)The event is set to begin in a little more than a month in Egypt and the COP27 focus will include adapting to extreme natural events, financing sustainability and climate goals, especially in emerging markets, and continuing to lock down international progress on the Paris Agreement.
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP27, will take place beginning Nov. 6, 2022, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Discussions will especially be centered around science provided by the International Panel on Climate Change.
A primary focus of this year’s event appears to be on financing climate and sustainability transitions and improvements. According to data from the World Bank, there needs to be an investment of $90 trillion in infrastructure by 2030 to make the improvements necessary to reach international net-zero targets. Such investments in areas like transitioning to renewable energy from fossil fuels could cut costs by $23 billion a year.
The progress is especially seen as needed in emerging markets, where energy and low-carbon transitions have been slow and, in some cases, seen as risks to the regions, according to a report earlier this year by Moody’s. That report found that more than $1 trillion of energy investments need to take place in emerging markets by 2030 in order to reach the International Energy Agency’s net-zero plan by 2050.
As financing in such areas is expected to be a big topic at COP27, Politico reports that the European Union likely won’t back a new fund at the conference for emerging markets. Instead, Politico reports, an EU draft negotiating plan focuses more on a generalized plan from COP26 in which "funding of activities to avert, minimize and address loss and damage are discussed."
It is expected that there is a push for developed countries to fulfill a promise of $100 billion of financing to underdeveloped countries, which was supposed to be delivered annually from 2020-2025 but has not been realized.
In terms of adapting to natural events and adding resilience to areas such as energy grids, COP27 is expected to build on initiatives that were approved at last year’s conference. That includes the Global Goal on Adaptation, which has objectives for tracking progress as well as additional funding for programs.
In recent weeks, extreme heat and hurricanes have impacted energy grids in the United States. At a pre-conference for COP27 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, leaders say financing for such improvements is behind goals, and that regions such as Africa are much more likely to be significantly impacted by extreme natural events. COP27 outlines making progress on the adaptation goals “to capture and assess our progress towards enhancing resilience and assist the most vulnerable communities.”
Overall, COP27 looks for continued mitigation of climate impacts with commitment and progress on the Paris Agreement.
The commitments made at last year’s COP26 would quicken progress made toward net-zero targets, according to another report from Moody’s, but put pressure on industries to also make changes. Similar work at last year’s COP26 led to many automakers saying they would phase out gas-powered vehicles by 2040, and the US and China pledging to work together to reduce emissions.
