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Background
World leaders and diplomats will descend on Egypt over the next two weeks as climate change takes centre stage at COP27.
With new technologies, adaptation and water among the topics to be discussed, this Social Friendly insight brief is your ultimate guide to this year’s climate change conference.
Context of the COP27 Conference
Demands for climate action are stronger than ever as the world comes together once again to discuss the rapidly warming world.
It will be the 27th time that 198 nations have met since a landmark environmental treaty was signed at the Earth Summit 30 years ago. Since then, they have agreed legally binding targets to combat climate change, but progress towards the goal of just 1.5⁰C of warming has been slow.
While the world is starting to bend the curve of greenhouse gas emissions, a recent synthesis report from the United Nations’ (UN) climate body warned that cuts are not happening fast enough. At present, the world is on track to warm by around 2.5⁰C.
Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of UN Climate Change, says, ‘The downward trend shows that nations have made some progress this year, but the science is clear that we are still nowhere near the scale and pace of emission reductions required to put us on track for 1.5⁰C.’
‘To keep this goal alive, national governments need to strengthen their climate action plans now and implement them in the next eight years.’
COP27 is the first major opportunity since this analysis for nations to demonstrate their commitment to cutting their emissions. The decisions they make will affect our lives, and those of future generations, for decades to come.
