COP27: A mirage in the desert

Source: This post is based on the article “COP27: A mirage in the desert” published in Business Standard on 12^th December, 2022

Syllabus Topic – GS Paper 3- Climate Change

Context: COP27 that concluded recently in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh. It has not made any gains which were expected of this summit. The article talks about the failures of COP-27.

How the COP-27 can be tagged as an under-performer?

First, loss and damage fund has been one of the decisions. The plan says that it will establish institutional arrangements for addressing loss and damage. It will catalyse technical assistance to developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change.

However, the only decision in this regard has been that by 2023, it will select the host country for the secretariat. There has been no decision on who will pay for funds, which countries are particularly vulnerable that will receive the funds.

Even though natural disasters reach catastrophic levels and deeply damage people and economies, there is no clear framework to stop it.

Second, the summit was agreeing on differentiating between the white and black fossil fuels. But at the last moment, it changed it to the term “low-emission energy” in the clean energy mix. It was done to provide acceptance to energy sources like natural gas, which emit half the carbon dioxide of coal. It is against the goal of deep decarbonisation.

How rule-based system of climate governance can solve the problem?

Rule-based governance was going against big polluters. So, this idea was dropped in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Now, there is no agreed way to differentiate between the polluters, and this gives a country like China a free pass.

However. a rule-based system of climate governance is the need of the hour. It is a simple proposition, that should be well established in law, that the country responsible for the pollution must pay. IN this scenario, it will be well-understood that a country like India would also contribute to the fund, if it has crossed, certain agreed threshold of greenhouse gas emissions.