Upwards of 40,000 people have flown from around the world to attend the United Nations COP 27 climate conference that began Sunday at a plush seaside resort in Egypt.
The opening day erupted in applause for the work of self-styled “activists” before delegates agreed with each other the issue of whether rich countries should compensate poor third world countries for “climate change” should be debated as a matter of urgency.
The conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh comes with a packed agenda, drawing massed attendees for two weeks of talks and climate debate.
Simon Stiell, the U.N.’s climate change executive secretary, warned he would not be a “custodian of backsliding” on the goal of slashing greenhouse emissions 45 percent by 2030 to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above late-19th-century levels.
King Charles III plants a lime tree at Buckingham Palace after hosting a reception for world leaders, business figures, environmentalists and NGOs, ahead of the Cop27 Summit on November 4, 2022, in London, England. King Charles III will miss the gathering of world figures. (Jonathan Brady – Pool/Getty)
A group of vegan activists demonstrate in front of the International Convention Center as the U.N. climate summit COP27 is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on November 06, 2022. (Mohamed Abdel Hamid/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“We will be holding people to account, be they presidents, prime ministers, CEOs,” Stiell said as the 13-day summit kicked off.
“The heart of implementation is everybody everywhere in the world every single day doing everything they possibly can to address the climate crisis,” he said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used the opportunity to lament the world is in peril as never before.
Motor transport for attendees waits at the entrance to the COP27 climate conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022. (Islam Safwat/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
He said the latest State of the Global Climate report is a chronicle of climate chaos, adding “We must answer the planet’s distress signal with action — ambitious, credible climate action.”
Delegates agreed on Sunday to put the “loss and damage” issue on the COP27 agenda, renewing discussions that have previously dominated the long-running event, AFP reports.
At last year’s U.N. summit in Glasgow, the European Union and the United States rejected calls for a separate financial mechanism and the issue of money for “loss and damage.”
Instead, negotiators agreed to start a “dialogue” extending through 2024 on financial compensation.
Inclusion of the agenda item “reflects a sense of solidarity and empathy for the suffering of the victims of climate induced disasters,” said COP27 president Sameh Shoukry of Egypt.
Shoukry also noted rich nations have not fulfilled a separate pledge to deliver $100 billion per year to help developing countries green their economies and build resilience against future climate change.
“We all owe a debt of gratitude to activists and civil society organisations who have persistently demanded the space to discuss funding for loss and damage,” he said to applause.
After the first day of talks, more than 120 world leaders will join the summit on Monday and Tuesday.
The most conspicuous no-shows will be China’s Xi Jinping, whose leadership was renewed last month at a Communist Party Congress, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
U.S. President Joe Biden is expected later this week after the midterm elections conclude.
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