The Guardian view on Cop27’s outcome: a real achievemen... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/20/...

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Opinion

The Guardian view on Cop27’s outcome: a

real achievement, but too far to go
Editorial

The creation of a loss and damage fund is a milestone, but a 1.5C

limit to the global temperature rise looks even further out of
reach
Sun 20 Nov 2022 18.30 GMT

1 of 3 11/20/22, 20:06
The Guardian view on Cop27’s outcome: a real achievemen... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/20/...

T
he Cop process often seems to encapsulate the broader global reaction
to climate breakdown. Leaders make grand but vague pledges of action;
fossil fuel lobbyists (600 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this year)
schmooze and press governments into maintaining the status quo; and
scientists, civil society groups and those most affected by the climate emergency
have to scream to be heard at all. The results are predictable: indecision, evasion,
obstruction and buck-passing followed by desperately needed – but desperately
inadequate – last-minute action.

Given the utter disarray evident as late as Saturday evening, the final outcome of
Cop27 is a relief, and in one regard even a cause for celebration. The agreement to
establish a loss and damage fund is a historic breakthrough, demanded for three
decades by developing countries. The devil will as usual lie in the detail: who will
fund it? But it should help to provide the financial assistance poorer nations need
for rescuing and rebuilding as extreme weather pummels their populations and
infrastructure. And it comes despite the sustained opposition of the US and (until
the eleventh hour) the EU.

The language on reforming international financial institutions is a real

achievement too and could, for example, help developing countries invest in
renewables. Again, detail is critical – what changes will be delivered, and how
quickly? – but fundamental reform is overdue. Yet these gains come alongside
grave disappointments. As Alok Sharma, president of last year’s Cop26, noted, it
was a battle to maintain the commitments made in Glasgow, never mind build on
them. “Peaking emissions by 2025 is not in this text. Follow-through on the
phasedown of coal is not in this text. The phasedown of all fossil fuels is not in
this text,” he said. The loss and damage fund is necessary, but amounts to
mitigation, instead of prevention; equivalent to a whipround to buy a neighbour
new clothes after watching as their house burnt down – because you dropped a lit
match.

Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian foreign minister and president of Cop27, says that
the 1.5C temperature limit remains within reach. Technically, that is right. But
politically, it is not. Global emissions would have to fall by 50% by 2030; they are
currently setting new records. Since next year’s meeting will be hosted by a
petrostate – the United Arab Emirates – few are optimistic about the prospects for
progress there. Yet if the fossil fuel giants bear much of the responsibility, others
too have failed to offer leadership. The EU could have led the way with revisions
to member states’ nationally determined contributions, setting out what each
country will do. The UK is offering new licences for North Sea exploration.

Over three decades, the international political system has repeatedly

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