The climate summit’s ambitions must be related to the international situation, which, after February 2022 has seen an increasing polarization between the west and the ‘rest’. Accordingly, the two biggest countries in terms of population (and emissions), China and India, are not participating in COP27 works. Russia is absent too, clearly involved in a conflict that is causing the country a fair diplomatic isolation. As regards the ‘western block’, it’s worth noticing that also Justin Trudeau and Anthony Albanese, respectively Canadian and Australian prime ministers, will not participate. Moreover, if the midterm election sees a victory of Republicans, the United States might resign in the next future from their role of guide in climate mitigation policies.

If this is the situation concerning big participants, on the other hand, COP27 will sadly have little space for activists’ voices. Greta Thunberg had announced she will skip the ‘greenwashing’ climate summit, which, according to the Swedish activist will be “used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention”.

As noted by the Guardian, unlike most UN climate summits, this one is not going to give activists and protesters any room. Social movements’ activities “have been curtailed, with protesters kept at a separate site and required to register in advance to be granted permission for even minor demonstrations”. A choice that reflects the general attitude of the host country, which, as widely acknowledged, hushes dissenters with any means, perpetrates human rights abuses and fills its jails with political prisoners.

No matter how controversial COP27 appears from its very beginning, climate change cannot wait. Concrete actions should be put in place to proceed towards its mitigation and the UN climate summit represents by far the most important international event on global warming and related issues.

But what are the key messages outlined at the procedural opening on Sunday?

Here are some of the issues highlighted by Sameh Shoukry – COP27 President – and Simon Stiell – Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Convention (UNFCCC).  The issues addressed in their speeches range from the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming to the implementation of previous Conferences; from the loss and damage caused by climate change to extreme climate events.

Scientific Consensus on Climate Change

“We became more cognizant of the threats that are around us, more aware of the science and risk impact revealed by science and more convinced about what we should do in order to overcome these challenges and threats.”
Sameh Shoukry¸ COP27 President

The scientific consensus about climate change is the cornerstone of UN climate summits. The underlying perspective expressed in IPCC reports is that global warming has an anthropogenic origin. Accordingly, the two main causes of climate change are considered to be an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide and methane in the lower layers of the atmosphere. This would produce an ‘entrapping’ of solar radiation, fostering the so-called greenhouse effect. Drawing on those scientific perspectives, COP’s objective is to proactively set strategies for reducing carbon emissions, for which energetic industry, industry and transports are the main responsible.

The effects of climate change: extreme events and increasingly difficult living conditions

“All types of evidence undoubtedly show that climate change is a real threat to people’s lives, wherever they live.”
Sameh Shoukry¸ COP27 President

Climate change affects disproportionally territories and nations, according to their geophysical characteristics. It is known that insular states would suffer more from the looming sea level rise. Also, the temperature increase is leading to the diffusion of extreme weather events, as testified by the 2021 flood of the Rhein, the cycle of floods in Pakistan and the unprecedented heat registered in Europe in 2022 summer. Also, global warming will produce desertification, ocean acidification, and drought. Generally speaking, some territories that are highly inhabited risk becoming inhospitable, due to the processes illustrated above.

For these reasons, it is necessary to act quickly: the Sharm El-Sheik COP27 designed objective is the ‘implementation’ of the Glasgow (2021) and Katowice (2018) agreement, to proceed further towards “a future world in which we can live without this existential threat”, as stated by the COP27 President.

It’s time for implementation

“Paris gave us the agreement, Katowice and Glasgow gave us the plan; Sharm El-Sheik shifts us to implementation. […] The heart of implementation is that everyone does everything possible to tackle the climate crisis.”
Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UNFCCC

As implementation is the core theme and main goal of COP27, it is key to understand what implementation means. According to Simon Stiell, a new direction is required, where outcomes from the formal and informal process truly begin to come together to drive greater climate progress — and accountability for that progress. there are three critical lines of action for this UN Climate Summit. First, it is necessary to put negotiations into concrete actions, aligning every human activity with the Paris commitment. Second, it is key to cement progress on the critical workstreams of mitigation, adaptation, finance and loss and damage, while stepping up finance notably to tackle the impacts of climate change. Third, enhancing the delivery of the principles of transparency and accountability throughout the UN Climate Change process.

The loss and damage principle

“[…] we must cement progress on these critical work-streams: mitigation, adaptation, finance and crucially, loss and damage. We need to enable finance to flow to address impacts.”
Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UNFCCC

Another theme that embraces the whole works of COP27 is the definition of concrete compensation strategies. Those strategies typically concretize in funds that richer countries give to poorer ones affected by environmental calamity. The loss and damage principle represents a significant innovation in climate cooperation, as it defines the who of climate-related damages: who is responsible for loss and damage? Who will then pay for then?

The loss and damage recognition should hypothetically make it possible to put in place significant financial flows from richer to poorer countries: right now, however, such compensatory mechanisms are not yet institutionalised, and it is unknown which form they will take. Accordingly, Simon Stiell’s speech is oriented to raise the issue of possible pathways through which finance deals with the mitigation of climate change, in defining the way to address compensatory issues. It will then be interesting to see what will emerge from COP27 in these terms, as the issue is becoming more and more relevant.