COP27 draws mixed reactions in Pacific Island nations

A hand reads "pay" calling for reparations for loss and damage at the COP27 UN Climate Summit, Nov 18, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. (PETEE DEJOING / AP)

Pacific Lsland nations may not have got everything they hoped for at COP27, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt, but they, along with other poorer countries, did manage to get rich nations to agree to establish a loss and damage fund.

An achievement which Tuvalu’s finance minister, Seve Paeniu, said was a “historic breakthrough” after almost three decades of climate talks.

In an article published on Nov 20 on the academic website The Conversation, Matt McDonald, associate professor of international relations at the University of Queensland, noted that for 30 years developing nations have fought for an international fund to pay for the loss and damage they suffer because of climate change

Speaking on Radio New Zealand on Nov 22, Paeniu said: “This is something we have been seeking for years.”

“This is a major breakthrough and a victory for the Pacific island countries."

ALSO READ: Good and bad news from COP 27

Although details have yet to be worked out, the fund could see the richest, and worst carbon polluting countries, contributing to the cost of climate loss and damage that developing nations have incurred.

While welcoming the new fund, Paeniu, however, said that on the whole, COP27 was a “missed opportunity”.

“It is regrettable that we haven't achieved equal success in our attempt to achieve the 1.5 degrees targets. It is regrettable that we haven't got strong language included in the cover decision before us on phasing out fossil fuels,” he told RNZ, referring to a goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels.

The Marshall Islands' climate envoy, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, said world leaders need to take more responsibility and phase out fossil fuels immediately.

She told the COP27 closing plenary: “In my country, we face a level of threat that many in this room could only imagine. Act now, or like us, you won't have to imagine for long.”

ALSO READ: 'Loss and damage' fund okayed at COP27

In an article published on Nov 20 on the academic website The Conversation, Matt McDonald, associate professor of international relations at the University of Queensland, noted that for 30 years developing nations have fought for an international fund to pay for the loss and damage they suffer because of climate change.

“At the COP27 climate summit they finally succeeded,” he said.

However, he added: “While it’s a historic moment, the agreement of loss and damage financing left many details yet to be sorted out. What’s more, many critics have lamented the overall outcome of COP27, saying it falls well short of a sufficient response to the climate crisis.”

He said there were hopes that COP27 would lead to new commitments on emissions reduction, renewed commitments for the transfer of resources to the developing world, and strong signals for a transition away from fossil fuels.

While the Loss and damage Fund was a “big breakthrough”, there is no clarity “in terms of donors, recipients or rules of accessing this fund”, McDonald wrote.

Jacqueline Peel, director of Melbourne Climate Futures, a climate initiative of the University of Melbourne, said: “COP27 has shown that the fossil fuel industry and their country backers still wield considerable power.”

“Their outsized presence in Egypt at this year’s meeting has left a large black footprint on the cover text,” she said.

“The commitment to 1.5 degrees is anaemic, the mitigation work programme watered down, carbon markets left with some dark corners for shady deals, low emissions’ recognized alongside renewable energy as energy sources of the future, and the failure to tighten Glasgow language on coal phase down to include other fossil fuels.”

ALSO READ: COP27 deal delivers landmark on 'loss and damage', but little else

One of the few bright spots, she said, was the agreement on “new funding arrangements for assisting developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change”.

“It is a sign that … a new era of accountability for climate change is dawning,” Peel said.

The text on loss and damage is “ragged at the edges, a little lost itself and damaged after chaotic negotiation process but its inclusion — when just two weeks ago having the item on the agenda was itself a victory — is nothing short of miraculous”, she said.

Peter Newman, professor of sustainability at Curtin University in Western Australia, said one of the things he noticed at the COP27 meeting was a “divergence of action deepening between states and non-state actors”.

He said nation states are being barricaded into zero action by some states that are essentially fronts for large fossil fuel enterprises.

“They do not allow even the use of ‘fossil fuels’ or ‘oil and gas’ to be mentioned in documents or dialogue,” Newton said.

“The baton has been passed to business, universities, cities and households to get on with the task of decarbonizing the future,” he said, while outlining the need to rein in the “incredibly dangerous companies and their puppet states that want to drag us back from this transition”.

karlwilson@chinadailyapac.com