Daily Key Events From COP27

COP27 at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt between 6th - 18th Nov 2022

Off the back of last year's COP summit, held in Glasgow, UK (COP26), COP27 the next installment of the United Nations Climate Change Conference will take place in Egypt, and in its 27th year. The UK, currently the holder of the COP presidency, has handed over to Egypt, which began on Sunday, 6th November 2022. The summit is due to run for 12 days till Friday, 18 November 2022. With more than 200 governments invited, it's one of the year's biggest events, with the aim to tackle climate change and prevent the global average temperature from rising above 1.5c. The Prime Mister of the United Kingdom who previously announced he wouldn't attend has now attended the summit at this year's COP in Egypt. This was due in part to the recent backlash from Alok Sharma, who was the president of the COP26 in 2021. COP27 is more important than ever because global temperatures have already increased by 1.1C since pre-industrial times. China, the US, and the EU are the top three emitters of carbon dioxide.

Before COP27 even started a total of 100 private jets had been counted landing in Egypt, of which 9 came from the UK, and 24 came from Sharm el-Sheikh! As we know flights produce mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), which contributes to global warming. Most private jets use around 2.6 tonnes of fuel an hour, which is equivalent of emitting around 41 tonnes of CO2 if traveling from the UK to Egypt. Environmental activists argue that if delegates had taken commercial flights instead, the emissions per person would have been much smaller.

COP26 saw a number of big pledges and we will look to see if such plans from last year's summit are on track at this year's COP.

  • coal "phase down"
  • by 2030 halt deforestation
  • by 2030 cut methane emissions by 30%
  • all countries to publish a new climate action plan to the United Nations
  • phase out inefficient oil and gas subsidies

We'll cover all the key events from COP27, including breaking news. Let's hope this year's summit is backed by last year's climate change pledges. The event kicks off on Sunday, and the official day on Tuesday, focusing on finance.

Who's attending COP27?

Big names such as US President Joe Biden and John Kerry, and France's Emmanuel Macron have issued statements saying they will attend, along with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. In a last-minute twist, Rishi Sunak will attend COP27. However, climate activist Greta Thunberg will not be attending the summit in Egypt.

Day 1 of COP27 - Key events of the World Leader's Summit (Sunday, 6th November 2022)

The pre-launch to the COP27 ceremonial day which World Leader's gather to negotiate key climate change issues.

Going into COP27, the US passed laws to tackle climate change, and measures listed in the new Inflation Reduction Act could cut gas emissions by 40%.

The EU's longer-term plan is to increase renewable energy from 40% to 45% by 2030.

Australia has increased its emissions reduction by an extra 17% a big leap forward.

Day 2 of COP27 - Key events of the World Leader's Summit (Monday, 7th November 2022)

Today kicks off COP27 with a ceremonial day, with a focus on the future of the planet. With key highlights of heatwaves, floods, and droughts. Today marks the start of the next twelve days of negotiations, to tackle climate change.

Experts have already warned that progress has been slow due to global energy and financial crises.

There's a goal of $100 billion to help developing nations with the effects of climate change.

Aside from the talks, the COP27 app has been reported to have the ability to spy on a user's phone having access to emails, and photos.

Boris Johnson (former UK Prime Mister) stated in a private event by the New York Times that the war on Ukraine was a big factor in slowing down progress against climate change.

UN secretary general tells the summit in his first speech that "the clock is ticking" as Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing, and global temperatures keep rising. Experts warn we're on track for about 2.7C of warming.

Rishi Sunak the UK Prime Minister spoke about the government's spending to help tackle climate change. He pledges that the UK's commitment of Β£11.6bn is still being delivered, adding that the funding will triple to Β£1.5bn by 2025. The UK government wants car sales to be at least 52% electric by 2028.

Day 2 has been mainly focusing on each nation giving speeches and first-hand information on how it affects their nation. The main theme so far has come from poor countries who are pushing rich countries which are responsible for most of the emissions including historical emissions, for financial compensation and funds to help with direct causes due to climate change.

Day 3 of COP27 - Key events of the World Leader's Summit (Tuesday, 8th November 2022)

The last day of the World Leader's Summit kicked off before the rest of the week's focused events. More speeches and negotiations took place at COP27 on day 3. We're hoping for some big pledges today before finance day kicks off tomorrow.

The hosts of COP27 in Egypt, announce the Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda, with its aim to bring governments, businesses, and charities together to help people suffering from climate change whilst also investing Β£852bn into environmental solutions.

Day 4 of COP27 - Key events focusing on Finance Day (Wednesday, 9th November 2022)

Although China's prime minister is not in attendance, they stated on finance day that they are still willing to contribute to loss and damage funds, to help poorer countries.

John Kerry, the US climate envoy, announces a new global carbon credit trading initiative with the aim to help developing countries transition to cleaner forms of energy.

More momentum within climate disaster funds with the UK saying it would allow some debt payment deferrals, and Austria and New Zealand have put forward funding for loss and damage.

No details if China will contribute to a loss and damage fund.

Day 5 of COP27 - Key events focusing on Youth and Future Generations (Thursday, 10th November 2022)

It has emerged that more fossil fuel lobbyists have attended COP27 than they did back in 2021 at COP26, up 25% to 636 lobbyists registered. In a bitter look ahead The UAE, hosts of the 2023 COP28, have currently 1,070 delegates in attendance.

Day 6 of COP27 - Key events focusing on Decarbonisation (Friday, 11th November 2022)

Nancy Pelosi hailed US Congress for passing the historic Inflation Reduction Act in the Summer. She also praises US President Joe Biden many times for his towards climate action, whilst he arrived on day 6 of the COP27 summit.

In President Joe Biden's speech, he said that the Inflation Reduction Act would give significant support to cleaner energy in the US. With focuses on wind, solar energy, and cleaner agriculture. He also stated that climate policy is also a good economic policy. He claimed that his administration's Paris Agreement goals were in fact on track of reducing emissions by at least 50% by 2030. Biden stated that for our best chance of meeting the 1.5C target, cutting methane is the key to unlocking that. That's because methane is much more potent than carbon dioxide. Methane, therefore, needs to be cut by 30% by at least 2030.

An interesting quote from Biden's speech where he says "there's no reason why we can't finance clean energy in developing countries", is off the back of announcing $500m towards Egypt's transition to clean energy.

President Joe Biden's speech was temporarily halted as protesters stormed the stage.

A report published out of the COP27 summit shows that we are on track to hit record-high levels of carbon emissions from fossil fuels in 2022 (36.6 gigatonnes), as scientists stress the importance of cutting emissions by half, by 2030.

Day 7 of COP27 - Key events focusing on Agriculture (Saturday, 12th November 2022)

Find out which companies, chartites, Universities have attended this year's COP27.

Day 8 of COP27 (Rest day - Sunday, 13th November 2022)

Day 8 of COP27 was a rest day, a break from week one of the summit and to allow delegates a chance to recoup before the second week of negotiations begins. The first week at COP27 has been eventful and we welcome the second week at COP27.

Day 9 of COP27 - Key events focusing on Gender and Water (Monday, 14th November 2022)

COP27's second week kicked off with a focus on gender and water protection.

Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo all signed an agreement to become strategically alliant in their coordination to push topics such as deforestation and biodiversity at G20.

Meanwhile, Brazil would like to undo the previous Brazilian president's backtrack to host COP in 2019 and to put their name down as hosts in 2025.

Alok Sharma, former president of COP warned that COP27 could be where we lose the fight for the 1.5c target.

The second week of COP27 highlighted again, out of the developed countries, Australia still lags behind in climate change action and performance.

Day 10 of COP27 - Key events focusing on Civil Society and Energy (Tuesday, 15th November 2022)

Australia has not signed the statement on "international public support for the clean energy transition partnership" which caused a backlash towards the Australian government.

However, Australia has joined a global offshore wind alliance, with its main aim to build 380GW (gigawatts) of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

COP27 had been riddled with fear of governments backtracking on pledges made at COP26 in Glasgow.

Day 11 of COP27 - Key events focusing on Biodiversity (Wednesday, 16th November 2022)

Day 11 of COP27 had a lot of focus on Brazil, with The Brazilian president-elect, Luiz InΓ‘cio Lula da Silva stating, "Brazil was back" with pledges to undo environmental degradation and halt deforestation.

Costa Rica stepped away from the cofounded coalition to end oil and gas.

Phase down of all fossil fuels continues to build momentum.

Glacial loss and damage are getting more exposure to discussions, and have been a frequent topic at COP27.

UAE, the next host of COP, (COP28), is already using its position to build its international reputation before it hosts the next summit in Dubai.

Day 12 of COP27 - Key events focusing on Solutions (Thursday, 17th November 2022)

COP27 published a draft cover text (also known as the cover decision) that includes the overarching agreements from the summit in Egypt. The draft stresses that efforts to meet Paris Agreement goals need to be upheld but sadly don't include any phase-down action on all fossil fuels.

COP27's official end date was Friday 18th November 2022, but spills out over the weekend while negotiations entered the final stages.

COP27 Key Takeways

Fossil fuels wording was changed from phasing out to phasing down.

The Loss and Damage fund arrangement should help those victims of climate change by richer nations paying poorer countries.

Apart from the Loss and Damage funding, COP27 seems to fail to meet required climate change targets.

1.5C promise is still alive, even if the COP27 text is relative weak.

Oil and gas industry representation were rife at COP27, with over 600 delegates linked in some way to the industry.

Brazil's president-elect promises zero deforestation by 2030.

You can find out more about UN Climate Change Conference - COP27 on the official website. Look forward to see you again at COP28 in Dubai.

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