COP27 opens in Egypt to focus on implementing Paris agreement

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) COP27 opened on Sunday in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt with the key aim of ensuring full implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Simon Stiell, the new Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Convention (UNFCCC), said at the opening of COP27 that the conference should shift the world towards implementation of previously agreed plans to tackle humanity’s greatest challenge,

“Today a new era begins – and we begin to do things differently. Paris gave us the agreement. Katowice and Glasgow gave us the plan.

“Sharm el-Sheik shifts us to implementation. No one can be a mere passenger on this journey.

“This is the signal that times have changed,” Stiell said in a statement.

The UN climate chief said leaders –be they Presidents, Prime Ministers or CEOs – would be held to account for promises they made last year in Glasgow.

“Because our policies, our businesses, our infrastructure, our actions, be they personal or public, must be aligned with the Paris Agreement and with the [UN Climate] Convention,” he said.

The UNFCCC convention entered into force on March 21, 1994 to prevent “dangerous” human interference with the climate system.

Today, ratified by 198 countries, it has near-universal membership. The Paris Agreement, agreed in 2016, works as an extension of that convention.

Acknowledging the current complex geopolitical situation, Stiell said that COP27 was an opportunity to create a safe political space, shielded from whatever is going on out there to work and deliver world change.

“Here in Sharm el-Sheikh, we have a duty to speed up our international efforts to turn words into actions,” he emphasised.

The UNFCCC executive secretary underlined three critical lines of action for the Conference, noting that first is to demonstrate a transformation shift to implementation by putting negotiations into concrete actions.

“Second it to cement progress on the critical workstreams – mitigation, adaptation, finance and crucially – loss and damage.

“The last is to enhance the delivery of the principles of transparency and accountability throughout the process.

“I welcome detailed plans on how we deliver what we have promised,” he said.

Stiell said that 29 countries had now come forward with tightened national climate plans since COP26, five more since the publication of last week’s UNFCCC NDC Synthesis report, but still not a majority.

“So here I am now, looking out at 170 countries that are due to be revisiting and strengthening their national pledges this year,” he said.

He reminded delegates that 2021, the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed at COP26, and he expected them not to rescind their word.

“Stick to your commitments. Build on them here in Egypt. I will not be a custodian of back-sliding,” he said

Also speaking, Alok Sharma, President of COP26 representing the United Kingdom, passed the baton officially to the new Egyptian President, Sameh Shoukry, during the opening plenary.

Sharma reviewed the achievements made at Glasgow in 2021, such as finalising the so-called Paris Rulebook – the guidelines for how that Agreement is delivered – and making stronger finance commitments.

According to the COP26 President, if all commitments made last year, including the net-zero pledges, were to be implemented, the world would be on a path to 1.7 degrees Celsius warming by the end of the century.

“Still not 1.5C, but progress,” he said, recognising the scale of the challenge that the world is facing.

Echoing Stiell words, he urged leaders to act, despite current geopolitical challenges.

“As challenging as our current moment is, inaction is myopic, and can only defer climate catastrophe, we must find the ability to focus on more than one thing at once,” he said.

Shoukry called on delegates to scale up ambition and begin implementing the promises already made.

“Moving from negotiations and pledges to an era of implementation is a priority,” he said, commending the countries which have already shared updated national climate plans.

Shoukry added that the $100 billion dollars promised for adaptation by developed countries to developing countries should be delivered, and finance must be also at the centre of discussion.

“The negotiations [during the next two weeks] will hopefully be fruitful,’’ he said