International
published on 11/18/2022

The 27th United Nations Conference on Climate Change opened in Egypt on November 6 for two weeks. It takes place in a country that exercises relentless repression against political opponents and environmental activists, and imposes cruel and inhuman prison conditions on them. This COP 27 aims to be the implementation of the previously adopted climate commitments.

196 countries are gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh with the presence of a hundred heads of state. China, India, Russia, Japan, Australia, Turkey and Canada did not send top executives.
Despite good intentions, pompous and thunderous announcements that keep multiplying, it is certain that this short-lived agitation will not lead to great progress.

The presence of sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Egypt-Air, Hassan Allam Holding (oil and gas), but also the CEO of Total testify to the desire of the world’s biggest polluters to influence the debates. For example, they want to integrate gas, which still emits CO2, as transitional energy!

rise of dangers

We have entered a new period, that of the Anthropocene, that is, a new geological era marked by the decisive impact of human activities on the balances of the biosphere and by the pressure on natural resources. But by referring only to human activity, the Anthropocene seems to support the idea that the pressures on the environment are related solely to human nature and not to the economic system into which it has inscribed its activity. For this reason, the concept of the Capitalocene has developed more recently.

In fact, the relationship that capitalist society has established with the living, who authorize the appropriation and exploitation of natural resources, is now at the forefront of challenges.

Disasters are multiplying and accelerating everywhere with extreme phenomena: destruction, fires, floods, sea floods, land salination, droughts, forced displacements, human tragedies with all their economic, social and cultural consequences. The years 2015-2022 were the hottest on record. The 2022 heatwave killed almost 15,000 people in Europe. Floods in Pakistan have killed 1,700 people and affected 33 million people.

“People in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, people in small island countries are 15 times more likely to die in a climate catastrophe,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres.

While not all negative, it is clear that the main goals of the Paris Agreement have not been met: failure to limit global warming, increases in greenhouse gases (GHGs), inadequate plans for national struggles, lack of international unity and unwillingness to adapt of developing countries, for the damage suffered by the most vulnerable countries, the persistence of fossil fuels, etc.

There are no longer any credible paths to limit warming and we are heading towards a catastrophic configuration of +2.7°C.

Moreover, this struggle requires a union of countries. However, the international context, marked by the war in Ukraine, tensions between China and the United States, threats to food production and the energy crisis, does not bode well for the future.

Challenges of the COP 27

The challenges of this COP 27 are manifold. They aim to discuss the implementation of the Paris Agreement and in particular the reduction of greenhouse gases. States had to present a roadmap with increasing ambitions. However, only 24 of them have done so, reflecting the lack of ambition in most states. Some are even fighting to have the +1.5°C limitation notice no longer appear in the final resolution.

At previous COPs, European countries have emphasized the mitigation and reduction of CO2 emissions. Adaptation to climate change is being prioritized here, under pressure from emerging economies, Africa and the most vulnerable countries. The debates have shifted to “loss and damage”, who should pay for the consequences of climate change.

However, let’s not lose sight of the fact that the development of Western countries, which are historic polluters, is in part the result of the plundering of natural and human resources from other countries. This domination continued after decolonization with the introduction of productivist or nation-state models and the domination of imperative GDP growth. The international financial authorities (IMF, World Bank, etc.) were the armed wing of this deadly policy.

This COP intends to take stock of compliance with financial commitments made by rich countries. They had pledged to pay $100 billion, but the account isn’t there because only ¾ of that amount was paid.

Finally, the aim of this COP is to highlight the already irreversible “losses and damage” suffered by the most vulnerable countries. They demand that both historical issuers and current large issuers (China) pay fair compensation. Those affected acknowledge the fact, but reject concrete funding.

Intervention by Emmanuel Macron

E. Macron, who was present at COP 27, shone, as so often, with a touch of hollow ideas. He began his speech by praising his climate policy and forgot to say that it is a catastrophe that has led to our country’s condemnation.

After declaring that “the war in Ukraine should not be an excuse to neglect climate goals,” he did his favorite exercise: lecturing everyone.

While we can welcome the pledge to ban the exploitation of the deep seabed, no concrete action has been identified other than the conclusion of a treaty to protect Southern countries’ ecosystems, raising concerns about the increased use of carbon offset credits.

Do COPs still make sense?

The COPs, tasked with developing a global fight against global warming for 30 years, multiply reassuring messages every year. However, the results progress significantly more slowly than the GHG emissions!

Admittedly, the COPs provide an essential arena for discussion, enabling dialogue between nations and pointing to the responsibilities of Western powers in the ecological crisis.

But do they really matter when we know that the most important decisions will be taken during the meeting of the oligarchic G20 club and the commitments will not be honored? Obviously the IPCC or the NGOs have more structuring measures than the States, real promoters of slowness.

The COPs are by no means the antechamber of the multilateralism that we urgently need.

It should be obvious that in a globalized world, humanity’s response to a common challenge should be collective. Only multilateral action can be effective. It is not the successive COPs that will succeed in curbing climate change. We must not start from these perpetual intergovernmental negotiations, but from the definition of collective needs. Never before has the question of global governance been raised with such sharpness.

Pascal Torre
Deputy Head of the International Sector of the PCF
responsible for the Maghreb and the Middle East