COP27 in Egypt | Draft statement ‘doesn’t go far enough’, says Guilbeault

The draft COP27 final declaration “does not go far enough” on the issue of phasing out coal and fossil fuel subsidies, Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault said on Friday, then that the negotiations were entering an extension.

For the time being, the text only mentions its encouragement to “pursue efforts to accelerate the gradual reduction of coal-fired electricity generation without a carbon capture and storage system (unabated coal) and to phase out and rationalize inefficient fossil fuel subsidies,” according to the version leaked Friday.

“We want the text to go further on coal, we want the text to go further on phasing out fossil fuels, and these are the interventions that Canada has made publicly here [vendredi] said Minister Guilbeault during a conference call from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The inclusion of such a mention is essential, for several participants in this 27^e United Nations climate conference, which accused the Egyptian presidency of lacking ambition.

Egypt has announced the continuation of negotiations at least until Saturday, beyond the deadline initially scheduled for Friday evening.

Losses and damages

On the other hand, negotiations made slight progress on the issue of “loss and damage” suffered by developing countries due to climate change, after the European Union (EU) accepted the principle of a “response fund”, under certain conditions.

The EU is asking in particular for this fund to be reserved for the “most vulnerable” and for the base of contributors to be broadened, an opinion shared by Minister Guilbeault.

“We believe the fund should include all major issuers [de GES]such as China, Saudi Arabia or Qatar,” he listed, adding that these countries now have a higher standard of living than when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted. , in 1992.

“At the time, the world was essentially divided into developed and developing countries; well, that has changed,” notes the Minister, pointing out that China is now the second largest economy in the world and the largest emitter of GHGs.

Shy draft

The draft COP27 final declaration released on Friday reiterates the international community’s commitment to limit global temperature rise “well below 2°C below pre-industrial levels and to continue efforts [la limiter] at 1.5°C”.

It “notes that this requires an immediate, deep and sustained reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions”, but does not mention the means to achieve this.

The objective is also unattainable under the current commitments of countries, which will instead lead to a warming of 2.4°C by the end of the century, warned the United Nations before the start of COP27.

The 10-page draft never mentions the words oil and gas, except in the phrase “greenhouse gases”, and only mentions fossil fuels in a passage reiterating the commitment made at COP26 to reduce “inefficient subsidies” to these energies.

It “notes” that “increased financial support” from developed countries to developing countries would “facilitate” the action of the latter, and expresses its “serious concern” at the failure of rich countries to respect their commitment to amass US$100 billion to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

A new draft is expected early Saturday morning [dans la nuit de vendredi à samedi, heure du Québec].