Today marks the close of the first of two weeks of climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany. This is one of the preparatory events ahead of the twenty-seventh World Climate Conference (Cop27), which will be held next November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. A crucial appointment for the concrete implementation of the Paris Agreement, by adopting measures to limit greenhouse gas emissions and overcome the impasse that prevented the progress expected at the previous summit, Cop26, held in Glasgow in 2021.

Cop27 preparatory work against an increasingly complex geopolitical backdrop

Delegates from nearly 200 nations taking part in the talks are gathering in a context that, from a geopolitical standpoint, is even more complex than last year. On top of the ongoing consequences of the pandemic, a conflict has broken out in the heart of Europe, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This has also sparked widespread tensions in commodity markets, with knock-on effects on poverty and hunger worldwide.

Italian Climate Network @ItalianClimate

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Siamo in partenza: lunedì iniziano i negoziati intermedi verso la #COP27 e li seguiremo direttamente da Bonn!
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#BonnClimateConference #UNFCCC

♥ 13 3 giu 2022 · Apri su X →

Opening the session of the UNFCCC (the United Nations Framework Convention that organises the Cops), secretary-general Patricia Espinosa warned: "The issue of climate change is not one we can afford to address further down the line." In other words: war and geopolitical tensions must not be allowed to stall the negotiations — on pain of condemning entire generations to living on a planet that will no longer resemble the one we know.

The need to honour the Glasgow Pact

In the same vein, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson raised the danger that the Ukrainian crisis could undermine the results of the upcoming Cop27: "The conflict has clearly shown that dependence on fossil fuels is not only a risk for the climate but also for security. We need to put an end to all of this."

Bonn is therefore hoped to pave the way for Cop27 itself this coming autumn. Starting from exactly where things were left unresolved in Glasgow, beginning with the need to make governments' plans for reducing climate-altering emissions more ambitious — plans that are still insufficient today and not aligned with the more ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement: limiting the rise in average global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial levels.

Many nations are indeed not yet aligned and will have to submit new NDCs (Nationally determined contributions), that is, pledges to reduce emissions. As things stand, the trajectory of commitments made so far would see the average global temperature rise by 2.8 degrees.

"We need the CO2 emissions reduction plans"

In this regard, it will be necessary to honour the "Pact" concluded in Glasgow, which requires governments to carry out such a review. "We need those plans — negotiations must move forward more quickly!" Espinosa insisted. On the contrary, the absence of new concrete pledges, just a few months away from Cop27, shows, according to the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Johan Rockström, "the distance between concrete actions and the scientific evidence of an incoming global crisis, with unimaginable impacts".

ANSA 2030 @ansa_2030

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Ripartendo dall'esito della #Cop26 dello scorso anno a Glasgow, si apre oggi a #Bonn la riunione tecnica preparatoria della #Cop27 con l'obiettivo di limitare il #riscaldamentoglobale a 1,5 gradi centigradi rispetto al periodo preindustriale
#ANSAAmbiente

ansa.it/canale_ambient…

♥ 4💬 1 6 giu 2022 · Apri su X →

Another long-standing item on the agenda concerns financing from the Global North to the Global South to support adaptation in the face of the consequences of climate change. In 2009, wealthy countries promised 100 billion dollars per year to the poorest and most vulnerable nations. That figure has never been disbursed in full. And today there is discussion of relaunching the issue.

In this regard, Aosis, the Alliance of Small Island States, among the most exposed of all, arrived in Bonn imploring: "Let it not be yet another forum of mere discussion. A clear vision is needed of when and how specific financing covering loss and damage will be implemented." The floor, once again, as has been the case for decades, belongs above all to the governments of the countries of the Global North.