The global climate meeting in Egypt next week will show how serious countries are about stopping global warming, even though many of the major players are focused on more pressing issues like the conflict in Europe or rising prices for consumers.
From November 6–18, more than 30,000 delegates, including government officials from 200 countries, will meet in Sharm el-Sheikh, a coastal resort town, to talk about how to slow climate change and help people who are already suffering from it.
However, with countries coping with the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as rising food and fuel costs and sluggish economic development, it is unclear if they will move swiftly and adamantly enough to prevent the worst effects of climate change.
Relationships between China and the United States, two of the major producers of greenhouse gases, have deteriorated this year.
According to a UN assessment published last week, most nations are falling short of their current promises to reduce carbon emissions, and global greenhouse gas emissions are projected to increase by 10.6% by 2030 compared to 2010 levels.
To keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial temperatures, which is the point at which climate change runs the risk of spiralling out of control, scientists say emissions must fall by 43% by that time.
Despite having made a commitment to do so, just 24 of the almost 200 nations participating in the COP27 negotiations have presented new or revised emissions-cutting plans since the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, last year.
During the Egypt meeting, a few nations, including Chile, Mexico, and Turkey, are anticipated to announce brand-new programmes, but it is unknown if any significant emerging nations, such as China and India, would be among them.
“The chance for China to make another major move ahead of COP27 is low,” said Li Shuo, a China climate expert at the environmental group Greenpeace, who is familiar with the government’s thinking.
The deterioration of relations between Washington and Beijing over issues like Taiwan and the conflict in Ukraine, according to Alden Meyer, an expert on international climate policy at E3G, is a hindrance to progress on the global climate front. He noted that previous cooperation between the two had boosted climate talks.
“Is it possible to make progress without the U.S. and China collaborating? Yes, it is, but it’s not easier,” he said.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, on the other hand, has been urging U.S. and foreign oil and gas drillers to ramp up production to address constrained global markets, reduce consumer prices, and offset supply disruptions linked to Russia’s war on Ukraine – showing how the energy crisis has changed the policy priorities of a president who had run on a promise to swiftly end the fossil fuel era.
Biden’s legislative successes on climate change, such as the Inflation Reduction Act’s enactment, which includes billions of dollars in subsidies for wind and solar power and electric cars, are expected to be highlighted by the American delegation to the U.N. summit. (REUTERS)
