Pakistan and the historic decision of COP27

“A fund for loss and damage is essential – but it’s not an answer if the climate crisis washes a small island state off the map, or turns an...

“A fund for loss and damage is essential – but it’s not an answer if the climate crisis washes a small island state off the map, or turns an entire African country into a desert. The world still needs a giant leap in climate ambition."

Written By Tehreem Khursheed

What is COP27?

COP (Conference of the Parties) is organized by the United Nations to get nearly all countries under one roof and to assess the progress achieved by members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in confining climate change.

These are the series of conferences running in session since 1992 and bringing the climate change issue from being the sidelined discussion into the global debate.

154 countries in the UNFCCC signed an agreement in 1992 to fight human-generated causes of climate change. Each year, a different country gets a chance to host and organize COP meetings. And the agreement made that year at COP is named after the host city. For example, the 2015 Paris Agreement or the 2021 Glasgow Climate Pact.

Why is COP27 important to Pakistan?

Pakistan is a high-profile participant in the COP27 summit held in Sharm el-Sheikh, a coastal city in Egypt. It was one of two co-chairs, the other being Norway. The conference was held from November 6th to 18th 2022.

Pakistan is the most climate-vulnerable country. Just before the conference, Pakistan faced extreme floods due to drastic changes in weather conditions.

As a result of anthropogenic activities (such as deforestation and increased carbon emissions), erratic weather has become a norm for underdeveloped countries.

Pakistan is only contributing 0.43% of global greenhouse emissions in 2013. In 2020 it increased to 0.67%, which is still negligible to the overall phenomenon of global warming. But the country suffered the most during rains between August to September 2022. Around 33 million people got affected by the unprecedented hazard. When these losses get combined with ill-managed government institutions, poor coordination, and a debted economy, the situation gets aggravated.

What Pakistan gained from COP27?

Climate-fueled flooding made the country crumble.

Pakistan’s environment minister Sherry Rehman told Reuters on the margins of the COP27 session in Egypt: “The dystopia has already come to our doorstep. The political advances we make here will have very little meaning on the ground unless there is a transfer of resources that shifts the needle on how people face the future,” she added.

PM Shehbaz Sharif demanded the developed north give relief in debt, so Pakistan gets breathing space to rescue its citizens and rebuild its infrastructure.

The conference concluded with a historic agreement of a “Loss and Damage” fund for developing countries vulnerable to climate change.

For the Adaptation Fund, new pledges of up to 230 million USD were made in the COP27 that will help the countries to adapt to climate change by creating effective solutions.

Governments also agreed to establish a ‘transitional committee’ to propose ideas to make the fund and new funding arrangements operational in the COP28, held next year before the end of March.

According to the cover decision or “Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan”, transforming the economy into low-carbon will require 4-6 Trillion USD per year. And to move this amount of funding, it is necessary to take stable financial systems, responsible governments, foolproof structures, central banks, and other financial actors on board.

As for Pakistan, the effort was a success in not setting the issue on the COP27 agenda only; but pushing the case along with other developing nations. In the official press release, the government appreciated the cooperation and understanding of the developed countries.

What do experts think about COP27?

Afia Salam, environmental journalist and member of the Pakistan Climate Change Council said “Loss and damage had been spoken about for the past few COPs but it wasn’t being centered as a major discussion. Pakistan showcased its current disaster – current because it is ongoing – and also warned that this kind of disaster can have a ripple effect which will go beyond borders.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says:

“A fund for loss and damage is essential – but it’s not an answer if the climate crisis washes a small island state off the map, or turns an entire African country into a desert. The world still needs a giant leap in climate ambition.