Will the 'COP27' Opening Soon Keep Its Promise to Support Developing Countries Affected by Climate Change?

This Year's Key Issue is 'Loss and Damage'... US and EU Principally Agree to Official Negotiations
Heatwaves Raise Climate Change Awareness... Calls to Increase Annual Fund to 100 Billion Dollars

[Photo by Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The main topic of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27), opening on the 6th (local time) in Egypt, is expected to be 'Loss and Damage.' Loss and Damage is a term used by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) referring to a fund to support developing countries suffering from climate change, funded by Western developed countries such as the United States and Europe, which were the main culprits of greenhouse gas emissions during the industrial era.

Will the Promise to Support Developing Countries Be Kept?

According to Bloomberg News, at COP26 held last year in Glasgow, UK, the United States and the European Union (EU) refused to discuss Loss and Damage, but at COP27 this year, they have in principle agreed to official negotiations.

It is interpreted that both the US and the EU have heightened awareness of climate change after experiencing severe heatwave damage this year. In the EU, more than 53,000 people were affected by casualties in July alone due to wildfires caused by extreme heat and dry weather last summer. The death toll increased by 16% compared to the average from 2016 to 2019. Denmark announced in September that it would provide $13 million in support to developing countries suffering from climate change, such as the Sahel region in northwest Africa, which is severely desertified. This was the first case where a developed country specified the support region and made a concrete support promise.

The demand for compensation for Loss and Damage has been raised since the early 1990s. At COP15 held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009, an agreement was made to provide $30 billion over the next three years to support developing countries' climate change responses and to increase the support amount to $100 billion annually by 2020. However, the support promises were not properly fulfilled, and disputes over fund support between developed and developing countries continued thereafter.

As damage from climate change increases, a consensus on the need for global cooperation is spreading. Ant?nio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, said, "80% of the gases causing climate change are emitted by the Group of 20 (G20)," and "wealthy countries have a moral responsibility to help poor countries recover from disasters."

There are now calls to increase the $100 billion annual fund discussed as of 2020. It is argued that $100 billion per year is insufficient as damage from climate change increases.

For example, Pakistan suffered extensive damage this summer due to prolonged heavy rains, with one-third of the country submerged. The World Bank estimated the damage and economic losses to exceed $30 billion. It also stated that the minimum cost required for reconstruction is $16.3 billion.

Attention on NDC Upgrades

How many UNFCCC member countries will raise their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) at COP27 is also a matter of interest.

At COP26 last year, it was pointed out that the NDCs prepared by member countries were insufficient to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015. The Paris Agreement, adopted at COP21 held in Paris in 2015, aims to limit the global temperature rise to within 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, preferably within 1.5 degrees.

The NDCs announced by member countries last year were criticized for allowing the global temperature to rise more than 2% above pre-industrial levels, leading to a decision at COP26 to revise the NDC targets upward and reannounce them by the end of this year. However, since the end of COP26 last year, only about 25 countries have announced new NDC targets.

In a report released on the 27th of last month, the UN stated that according to the greenhouse gas reduction plans currently disclosed by countries worldwide, the global temperature will rise by 2.4 to 2.6 degrees Celsius by 2100, failing to meet the Paris Agreement goals. The UN analyzed that to limit global temperature rise to within 1.5 degrees, current greenhouse gas reduction targets must be increased by 45% by 2030.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.