> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.europeans.today/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # COP27: Five things to expect from this year’s UN climate summit - URL: https://www.europeans.today/2022/11/07/cop27-five-things-to-expect-from-this-years-un-climate-summit/ - Published: 2022-11-07T23:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2022-11-08T14:31:56.000Z - Description: Don’t expect much at this year’s COP27 than new pledges and promises. But if you hope for a Paris-style “Sharm El-Sheikh agreement”, you will be disappointed: countries are not doing what they have promised at previous COPs. - Author: Contribee - Tags: Climate Change, Climate Crisis, Environment, COP27, Climate Policy, Climate Finance, Climate Justice, Paris Agreement 2015, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ### Don’t expect much at this year’s COP27 than new pledges and promises. But if you hope for a Paris-style *“Sharm El-Sheikh agreement”*, you will be disappointed: countries are not doing what they have promised at previous *COPs*. ###### First published: Nov 2022. --- The world’s leaders are gathering for another global climate meeting, this time in [Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt](https://enb.iisd.org/sharm-el-sheikh-climate-change-conference-cop27?ref=europeans.today). Expect a bustle of promises and pacts from countries and companies. Expect pressure on states to support people who are most and permanently affected by climate change. Don’t expect much more, but equally don’t lay the blame solely on the *United Nations*. States are not doing what they’ve promised, according to a slate of recent reports. Countries’ promises and early actions show *“[no credible pathway](https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2022?ref=europeans.today)”* to keeping the world below 1.5℃. Financial promises [remain unkept](https://www.oecd.org/climate-change/finance-usd-100-billion-goal/?ref=europeans.today). This meeting is an *“in-between”* *COP*, focused on implementing policies that were agreed at the meetings in Glasgow (2021) and Paris (2015). That means there need to be clear signals that states are following up on past promises and decisions. Overall, there will be a lot of *“dialogues”* and *“work programmes”* but there really is no area where a major outcome is expected – if you’re hoping for a Paris-style *“Sharm El-Sheikh agreement”* then you will be disappointed. Nonetheless, lots of crucial discussions will take place over the next two weeks. Here are five key issues to look out for. In each case, failure to follow up on previous promises will likely haunt negotiations. ### 1\. Contentious new agenda items The first decision of the conference will be to adopt the agendas by consensus. These documents set out what issues will be discussed. The agendas can tell us a lot about the [traditional priorities](https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-what-gets-prioritised-and-ignored-at-un-climate-negotiations/?ref=europeans.today) of the climate change negotiations, particularly that [mitigation and national reporting](https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-what-gets-prioritised-and-ignored-at-un-climate-negotiations/?ref=europeans.today) issues dominate. There are four proposals for new agenda items at *COP27* and at least three are contentious. At the outset – and, hopefully, before the negotiations formally begin – the presidency team will look to broker a deal to help get the agenda through. Two of the new items relate to finance. One seeks negotiations on finance for [loss and damage](https://theconversation.com/loss-and-damage-who-is-responsible-when-climate-change-harms-the-worlds-poorest-countries-and-what-does-compensation-look-like-192070?ref=europeans.today) (more on that below). The other will try to align global financial flows to sustainable development pathways. This is very needed, but countries have wildly different views on how to go about pushing global financial assets toward low-carbon, climate-resilient investments. A third agenda proposal concerns the *“[special circumstances of Africa](https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/environment/article/2001459787/africa-group-of-negotiators-list-cop27-priorities-for-the-continent?ref=europeans.today)”*. In 2015, there was a push to have the climate vulnerability of the continent recognised in the *Paris Agreement*. This didn’t happen and ever since has been proposed and deferred. But this year, the *COP* is in Africa. ### 2\. Vulnerable countries will demand finance for ‘loss and damage’ Loss and damage refers to the permanent and negative impacts of climate change. Think of droughts and lost crops, super typhoons and lost lives. It’s the result of high emissions that cause problems beyond what can be adapted to. How to provide finance for these losses is extremely contentious. Developed countries previously [blocked a proposal](https://enb.iisd.org/bonn-climate-change-conference-sbi56-sbsta56-daily-report-6jun2022?ref=europeans.today) to include this item on the agenda. These historic major emitters worry about liability and compensation. Vulnerable developing countries point to the need to plan for people to relocate and rebuild when disasters strike. For them, the [Glasgow dialogue](https://unfccc.int/event/glasgow-dialogue?ref=europeans.today) to explore finance options on loss and damage is not enough. ### 3\. Will there be stronger pledges? A key promise of Glasgow was to *“keep 1.5 alive”*. It didn’t succeed. The pledges put forward before Glasgow put us on track for a nearly 3℃ warmer world. In the Glasgow climate pact, countries agreed to go home, revisit their pledges and bring something better to *COP27*. But to date, only 24 countries have put forward updated NDCs (nationally determined contributions – each country’s pledge to reduce emissions). According to the [*UN Synthesis Report*](https://unfccc.int/ndc-synthesis-report-2022?ref=europeans.today) on these pledges, the dial has barely flinched since Glasgow. A work programme on how to scale up climate ambition before 2030 will continue in Egypt. It got off to a [contentious start](https://enb.iisd.org/bonn-climate-change-conference-sbi56-sbsta56-summary?ref=europeans.today#brief-analysis-bonn-climate-change-conference) and so far, seems stalled. ### 4\. Progress on climate finance In Glasgow, developed countries had to admit they failed to reach their ten-year-old promise to provide [US$100 billion (£88 billion) per year of climate finance](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02846-3?ref=europeans.today). This can be spent on anything from new solar farms to stronger sea walls or retraining for people whose livelihoods are no longer viable. One year on, developed countries still haven’t met this goal. It’s a huge blow to trust among countries. Glasgow launched a work programme to design a new collective finance goal for 2025\. These talks will continue at *COP27* and will show the wide gulf in how countries view the quantity and quality of climate finance provided. Again, it’s likely there won’t be a big-bang outcome here but hopefully some progress. ### 5\. Building resilience among the most vulnerable Adaptation is often ignored compared with mitigation, but building resilience is an urgent need. There is a *“global goal for adaptation”* in the *Paris Agreement*, and now a [two-year dialogue](https://unfccc.int/topics/adaptation-and-resilience/workstreams/glasgow-sharm-el-sheikh-WP-GGGA?ref=europeans.today) on how to make that goal usable for countries as a guiding star to reduce their climate vulnerability. This will also help capture global progress on adaptation. The Egyptian *COP* presidency has cited adaptation as a priority, so perhaps there is room for a mid-dialogue outcome to raise the profile of adaptation. Overall, *COP27* is a mismatch of ambitions. While we need urgent action from states, the institutional machinery will keep ticking along. Both are important and need to reinforce one another. To advance these discussions, states need to implement climate policies at home, then showcase meaningful actions when they gather again for *COP28* in Dubai in a year’s time. ![PMP Magazine](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png "PMP Magazine") *The author also contributes to the [Earth Negotiations Bulletin](https://enb.iisd.org/?ref=europeans.today), a publicly available record of global environmental negotiations.* ### **GOING FURTHER:** *- [COP 27 Halfway Point Webinar \[Zoom\], 13-Nov-2022](https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN%5FpYd06TUuQ6Wx4AU0aU4-NQ?ref=europeans.today) | Earth Negotiations Bulletin* *- [What gets prioritised and ignored at UN climate negotiations?](https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-what-gets-prioritised-and-ignored-at-un-climate-negotiations/?utm%5Fcontent=buffer5e3e1&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer) | CarbonBrief* --- | [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2022/08/feeback1-small-flatten-1.png)](https://forms.gle/tRe7igVtMPaiAPtJ8?ref=europeans.today "Leave some feedback") | [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2022/08/share-1-small-flatten.png)](#share "Share this article") | [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2022/08/comment4-small-flatten-2.png)](#comments "Leave a comment") | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- ### **— AUTHOR —** | ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2022/11/edde.jpg) | ▫ **Dr Jen Allan*, Lecturer in Environmental Politics, Cardiff University. Strategic Adviser, Earth Negotiations Bulletin.* | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- ##### Sources **Text:** This piece was originally published in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/cop27-five-things-to-expect-from-this-years-un-climate-summit-193671?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in PMP Magazine on 7 November 2022\. | The author writes in a personal capacity. - **Cover:** Adobe Stock/[Rafael Henrique](https://stock.adobe.com/uk/contributor/205762423/rafael-henrique?load%5Ftype=author&prev%5Furl=detail&ref=europeans.today). ![The Conversation](https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193671/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic)