Talking about climate change #11
Talking about climate change #11
What’s going on with COP27? (4 minute read)
When will we see
how heavily we tread
Shahina Poovaden
The big climate change news this week is the COP27 summit being held in Egypt right now. More than 30,000 people have registered for the summit, representing governments, non-governmental organisations and businesses – including fossil fuel companies. The annual COP summits are crucially important for action on climate change, but they are also often deeply disappointing for their lack of real progress.
For this month’s “talking about climate change”, I’m sharing resources to help you understand and discuss COP27.
COP27 – the basics
The COP summits are annual meetings, held every year (except 2020) since the original United Nations climate agreement in 1992. The following page, from New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment, gives a quick summary of this agreement (which goes by the acronym UNFCCC), as well as subsequent agreements, like the Kyoto Protocol.
New Zealand and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change | Ministry for the Environment (4 minute read)
The following article gives an excellent overview of what will be discussed (when you click the link, you will be asked to create a BBC account, but you don’t have to, just click the X on the top right of the page).
What is COP27 and why is it important? - BBC News (5 minute read)
Putting COP27 into context
To understand COP27, it helps to look back at what happened at last year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow. The following resources take a look back over COP26 and the last year. The first link is an article from another Substack writer, Parva Chhantyal. The second link comes from the United Nations, and goes into more depth. It includes a useful video with some analysis of last year’s summit and what will be discussed this year. The third link I’ve given is a short video which highlights some of the climate change consequences we have faced over the last year.
COP27: What to expect? - by Parva Chhantyal (6 minute read)
COP27: What you need to know about this year’s big UN Climate Conference | What is COP27? | 1UN News (11 minute read and 20 minute video)
Cop27: the climate carnage we've faced this year – video | Environment | The Guardian (4 minute video)
COP27 voices
The opening of COP27 featured a number of speeches from leaders and officials. Among the most interesting was that from the Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley. She discussed difficult issues which will be important at this year’s COP meeting, including compensation for “loss and damage” and reform of institutions such as the world bank. I’ve got more on these issues below, but here is her speech in full.
Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados at the Opening of the #COP27 World Leaders Summit - YouTube (14 minute video)
Another speech at the opening was that of young Ugandan activist Leah Namugerwa. I had to concentrate quite hard to understand her accent, but it’s only a 4 minute speech and well worth a listen.
Leah Namugerwa at the Opening of the #COP27 World Leaders Summit | UN Climate Change - YouTube (4 minute video)
On the other hand, some of those at COP27 are driven by different motivations. Five BP employees, including the Chief Executive, were present as part of the official delegation for the nation of Mauritania.
COP27: BP chief listed as delegate for Mauritania - BBC News (4 minute read)
Climate change and money
It’s a painful truth that those least responsible for climate change are suffering the most. In the wake of disasters such as Pakistan’s devastating floods, the calls are louder than ever for wealthy countries and companies to compensate developing countries for the loss and damage they are suffering. The following article gives a good overview of the issue.
Climate ‘loss and damage’: why it’s such a big deal at Cop27 | Climate crisis | The Guardian (5 minute read)
As well as loss and damage, there are other topics related to money under discussion at this year’s COP27 summit. The following two articles cover some of the issues.
What you missed at U.N. COP27 climate talks : NPR (5 minute read)
Money talks: why climate finance at Cop27 is key to beating global heating | Climate finance | The Guardian (13 minute read)
New insights from climate science
The World Meteorological Organisation presented ten new insights from climate change science which relate to the topics under discussion at COP27. For example, one of these insights is the way that climate change is linked to health, discussed in this short article. If you scroll down at the end of the article, there are links to the other insights, such as the relationship between climate and security.
New threats on the horizon from climate–health interactions - 10insightsclimate (4 minute read)
Climate poetry
This month’s climate poem comes from Shahina Poovaden in India. It was written as part of the “When Is Now” campaign of collaborative art and poetry demanding urgent climate action. It’s also worth checking out the other art and poetry on the “When is now” site. You can even submit your own work.
the bloated ego and the saddened spirit . . . by Shahina Poovaden - When Is Now