Seeking Solutions to Climate Change: COP27 Opens with Attendance of Over 80 Heads of State

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27), aimed at finding solutions to the climate change crisis, opened on the 6th (local time) in Sharm El Sheikh, located on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

The host country, the Egyptian government, expects about 40,000 participants at this year's COP27, including delegations from approximately 200 countries, environmental and climate-related civic groups, businesspeople, and journalists. More than 80 heads of state and government leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, will attend. From Korea, Climate and Environment Ambassador Na Kyung-won will attend the COP27 summit on the 7th and 8th as a special presidential envoy. COP27 will continue until the 18th.

This year’s conference agreed to formally discuss the issue of "loss and damage," which concerns compensation by developed countries to developing countries suffering from weather changes and sea-level rise caused by anthropogenic climate change.

Developed countries pledged at the 2010 Cancun Conference (COP16) in Mexico to provide $100 billion annually by 2020 to support greenhouse gas reduction and climate change adaptation in developing countries. However, the actual fulfillment rate of this pledge by developed countries is estimated to be less than 80%. Developing countries have criticized developed countries for failing to meet their promises and argued that the originally promised amount is insufficient, insisting that the loss and damage issue be formally discussed at this year’s conference. Although similar demands were raised at last year’s Glasgow Conference in the UK, developed countries such as the United States and the European Union opposed them then.

Egypt, the host of COP27, has emphasized the goal of this conference as the fulfillment of previously announced greenhouse gas reduction and climate fund contribution promises. However, the situation is challenging. At the COP26 in Glasgow last November, major countries promised to phase down coal power generation. Yet, according to the energy think tank Ember, global coal power generation actually increased by 1% over the past year.

Simon Stiell, Secretary-General of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), urged governments in his opening speech at COP27 to ▲transition from negotiation to action in implementing the Paris Agreement ▲ensure continuity among greenhouse gas reduction, climate change adaptation, and loss and damage support flows ▲and enhance transparency and credibility throughout the UN climate change process.

Meanwhile, Egyptian authorities have been criticized for excessively suppressing activities of environmental activists, including protests, in Sharm El Sheikh, where COP27 is held, citing security reasons. Having faced criticism over human rights issues, the Egyptian government reportedly restricted environmental activists by designating protest sites in the middle of the desert, isolating them from the conference venue, and plans to deploy surveillance cameras, according to foreign media reports.

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