The president of the climate summit urges action despite global unrest

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  Helen Ekker

  Climate and Energy editor

More than one hundred heads of state and government met today at the climate summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Many of them will be giving speeches today and tomorrow, in which they will clarify what they want to achieve during the meeting. Egyptian President Sameh Shoukry urges action despite global unrest.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that this UN climate summit is taking place “in a world that is witnessing political turmoil that cast a long shadow over all our countries and have led to energy and food crises,” Shoukry said. According to him, these problems should not lead to the postponement of climate action.

UN Secretary-General Guterres points out that this climate summit is a time for change:

Over the next two weeks, representatives from nearly 200 countries will strive to combat further climate change. The world is not yet on track to limit warming to 1.5 degrees. The climate promises made so far by the countries amount to about 2.5 degrees of warming. Too much according to climate scientists, who previously proved that more than 1.5 degrees leads to particularly large and partly irreversible consequences.

Why is it important for global warming to stay below 2 degrees? What more or less does a degree count? In this video we explain that:

Egypt, as president of the conference, seeks to highlight Africa’s vulnerability. Yesterday it was announced that for the first time at a climate summit, the damage caused by climate change is also on the agenda. Many poor countries have wanted this for much longer, because they are vulnerable, while they themselves have contributed little to greenhouse gas emissions. The richer countries held back, but now they are moving on.

“The climate crisis has consequences that go beyond what vulnerable countries can bear on their own,” said European Commissioner Frans Timmermans. “We need solutions that address diverse needs in the field and enable rapid scaling of support to those who need it most.”

This is not to say that it is easy to determine how the discussion should proceed. The first calculations speak of hundreds of billions of euros that could be needed. But it will be difficult to determine which damages will qualify. Because extreme weather conditions have always existed and sometimes damage is also the result of inadequate policies to prevent damage. Floods like the one in Pakistan also make it clear that a lot of money can be involved.

The main absentees at this summit are Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is therefore questionable whether really tough deals can be concluded in Egypt now that two of the largest top-tier emitters are not among them. US President Biden is also not there in the beginning yet. He will go to Sharm el-Sheikh later this week, after elections are held in his country tomorrow.

In his speech, the new British Prime Minister Sunak will insist that leaders in any case do not shy away from commitments made in Glasgow last year. For example, last year at the climate summit it was decided to phase out the use of coal and to combat deforestation and methane emissions.

It is not yet clear how the protests, which are usually a lively element of climate conferences, will go during this summit. Human rights groups are concerned about this, saying Egyptian activists shouldn’t get close to the conference. Well-known climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has been regularly attending climate summits for several years, said she would stay home this time.

Some scientists and environmental and humanitarian organizations use the summit as an opportunity to publish new insights and reports. Oxfam Novib, for example, today publishes a publication showing that the emissions and investments of 125 billionaires generate as much CO2 as the emissions of the whole of France. Their individual average is therefore a million times higher than the average emissions of 90 percent of the world’s population, according to Oxfam Novib.