COP 27 begins in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

The 27th Session of Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27) began on Sunday at Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt. The conference will continue till 18th of November. It will build on the outcomes of COP26 to deliver action on issues which are critical to tackling the climate emergency. The conference will focus on three main areas, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, helping countries to prepare and deal with climate change and securing technical support and funding for developing countries for climate activities. The COP27 seeks renewed solidarity between countries, to deliver on the landmark Paris Agreement, for people and the planet.

The world is eyeing for COP27 to be ‘COP of Action’ with key deliverables having a specific focus on defining Climate Finance, outcomes on Adaptation and Loss & Damage.

At COP 27, countries have come together to take action towards achieving the world collective climate goals as agreed under the Paris agreement and the convention. Heads of States and Government will attend the conference. The conference has been expected to substantial progress on the discussions related to climate finance and clarity on its definition. The goal of 100 billion US Dollar per year of climate finance by 2020 and every year thereafter through till 2025 is yet to be achieved.

The global event is expected to bring out positive result on New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). The said topic is a key accompanying decision to the 2015 Paris Agreement stipulates settingNCQG for climate finance prior to 2025. This new goal will be built on lessons learned from the US$100 billion per year by 2020 commitment and must consider the needs and priorities of developing countries. The original goal of US$100 billion was set as a political move to rebuild trust among Parties; it was not scientifically based nor derived from the needs of developing countries. Parties and observers continue to argue about achieving the US$100 billion target and have learned many lessons from climate finance provision and mobilization efforts over the past decade. One can only expect the deliberations on the NCQG to become increasingly contentious.

Delegates at COP26 in Glasgow launched an ad hoc work program, which will run until COP29 in 2024, to initiate the deliberations of the NCQG. The first Technical Expert Dialogue (TED) in March 2022 raised a broad range of issues that need to be addressed but failed to establish a clear structure on how to do that. The first year of this process is critical to getting the work program on the right track, ensuring its inclusiveness and transparency, and identifying all fundamental questions and issues to be debated and resolved along the process.

The Informing the NCQG project seeks to provide science-, evidence-, and equity-based input to inform key conversations through a technical paper series. Funded by the Government of Germany, the project — coordinated by RMI — partners with Climate Analytics, Climate Policy Initiative, Global Center on Adaptation, Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean, Open Society Foundation, Oxfam, and South-South-North. Ultimately, we hope to ensure that the NCQG effectively supports building resilience and promotes the economic transformation needed in the Global South to meet the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals.