Two global climate conferences occurred in November and December of 2022 — COP15 in Montreal and COP27 in Egypt.
COP is an acronym for “Conference of the Parties,” organized by the United Nations (UN) with the high-level participation of states, regional organizations, and non-governmental actors. COP15 was concerned with changes in global biodiversity whereas COP27 focused on “solving the issues of climate change.”
Any reasonable person might ask: How the heck can the UN separate biodiversity decline from climate change? So, I ventured into the jungle to find out.
According to a report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the combined climate pledges of 193 parties in the 2015 Paris Agreement could put the world on track for around 2.5°C (degrees Celsius) of warming by the end of this century.
However, the IPCC’s latest report indicates that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be cut by 43% by 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C to avoid the worst impacts of climate change — more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves, and rainfall.
Whereas previous COPs sought avenues to reaching the Paris Agreement goal, COP 27 also tackled methods of adapting civilization to the inevitable impacts of climate change already happening globally, especially in underdeveloped countries that have been exploited in the pursuit of economic growth.
At COP27, the IPCC acknowledged there has been “some” progress toward reducing GHG emissions, but we are nowhere near the scale of emissions reductions needed to get us to a 1.5°C world. Governments must implement their climate action plans now to meet the goal in the estimated eight years we have to avert catastrophe.
And that will take an estimated $4-6 trillion dollars per year.
Governments at COP27 established new funding arrangements, with a dedicated fund to help vulnerable underdeveloped countries respond to loss and damage caused by climate change. They also established a “transitional committee” to make recommendations on how to implement both funding models next year at COP28.
COP27 made some progress toward adaptation, with governments agreeing to create the first Global Stocktake.
They pledged more than $230 million to a separate adaptation fund that is supposed to apply concrete solutions to help those vulnerable communities adapt to climate change by 2030. The IPCC’s standing committee on finance will prepare a report on doubling adaptation finance for consideration at COP28.
COP15, the biodiversity COP, was held in Montreal, chaired by China, and hosted by Canada.
The 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF) with four goals and 23 targets for achievement by 2030.
The GBF aims to address biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems, and protect Indigenous rights. It includes concrete measures to halt and reverse nature loss by putting 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030. It also contains proposals to increase financing to developing countries – a major sticking point during those two weeks of talks.
The stakes could not be higher.
The planet is experiencing its largest loss of life since the dinosaurs. One million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction.
COP 15’s four 2030 goals to protect nature include:
• Halting human-induced extinction of threatened species and reducing the rate of extinction of all species tenfold by 2050
• Sustainable use and management of biodiversity to ensure that nature’s contributions to people are valued, maintained and enhanced
• Fair sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic (natural) resources, and digital sequence information on genetic resources
• Adequate means of implementing the GBF be accessible to all parties, particularly the least developed countries and small island developing states
The 23 specific GBF targets identified in COP15 range from effectively managing land and water usage to respecting the rights of Indigenous peoples and recovering other species at extreme risk of extinction.
The group of 195 nations and the European Union (not the U.S. or the Vatican) also mandated a 50% cut in food waste. This may be one reason the U.S. didn’t sign on to the COP — U.S. corporate Agriculture and the fossil fuel industry are major contributors to the problem.
For a complete list of COP15’s goals and targets, go to tinyurl.com/yc3vyfcx.
What I’ve gleaned from studying these two conferences:
Some observers may view these conventions as frustrating bureaucratic delays in progress toward slowing the climate crisis.
The good news is that members of both COPs are recognizing the logical necessity of looking for climate crisis solutions that tackle the two issues. Another hopeful fact is that both conventions created instruments that allow countries to develop their own national strategies to achieve the commitments they have made in these international forums.
The slow pace of progress is a product of politics and economics. We either act now to reverse the climate crisis and heal the earth or we accelerate our own extinction.
Susan McCabe, with Rondi Lightmark and Steve Bergman, authored this commentary on behalf of the Whole Vashon Project. Find out more about the organization at wholevashonproject.org.
