United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Sunday that the “planet is sending a signal of suffering,” in a video message sent to participants at the COP27 Climate Summit in Egypt.
“As COP27 begins, our planet is sending a signal of suffering,” Guterres was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency, referring to a situation of “chronic climate chaos.”
The UN climate conference kicked off on Sunday in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, with a new warning about accelerating global warming, whose financing of damage to poor countries is officially on the list for discussion for the first time.
According to data released today by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the eight years between 2015 and 2022 will be the warmest on record.
Until November 18, delegates from almost 200 countries will try to breathe new life into the fight against global warming, while the multiple and interrelated crises that shake the world – the war in Ukraine, inflation and the threat of recession, the food crisis – they arouse fears. that the subject will remain in the background.
“Let’s implement together [os nossos compromissos] for humanity and for our planet,” said Egyptian Minister Sameh Choukri, who is chairing the summit.
The impacts of climate change have multiplied, as evidenced by the various disasters that will hit the planet in 2022, from the historic floods in Pakistan, to the repeated heat waves in Europe, through hurricanes, fires or droughts.
The costs of these disasters already amount to tens of billions of euros, for which the most affected countries in the south of the globe claim financial compensation.
The sensitive topic of “loss and damage” was officially added to the discussion agenda during the opening ceremony, while until then it was only a scheduled dialogue topic until 2024.
“The success or failure of COP27 will be judged [conforme se alcance ou não] an agreement on this mechanism for financing loss and damage”, warned Munir Akram, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN and president of the G77 + China, which represents more than 130 emerging and poor countries.
The distrust of the developing countries is strong, while the promise of the northern countries to increase aid to the southern countries to 100 billion dollars a year, starting in 2020, to reduce emissions and prepare for impacts.
Another pressing issue in the discussions is to avoid a setback in the emission reduction commitments that, even so, remain insufficient.
Only 29 countries have submitted enhanced reduction plans since the 2021 COP in Glasgow, Scotland, although they have pledged to do so.
Political decision-makers, academics and non-governmental organizations meet between today and November 18 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, at the 27th UN summit on climate change (COP27), to try to stop global warming, limiting warming global at 2ºC (degrees centigrade), and if possible at 1.5ºC, above the average values of the pre-industrial era.
Leaders such as the President of the United States, Joe Biden, confirmed their presence, and the Portuguese Government will be represented by the Prime Minister, António Costa.
Source: TSF
