3 things the global South must push for at COP27

The world has gathered at Sharm el-sheikh to reassess and reiterate actions required to limit global warming and adapt to its consequences. Setting an ambitious pace and scale of climate action at this year’s Conference of the Parties (COP27) is imperative. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability) painted a disturbing picture. Around 3.6 billion people live in countries vulnerable to climate impacts; with the majority in the global South. Inequity, lack of capacity, development challenges, and limited resources constrain their ability to mitigate or adapt to changes. However, COP27 is taking place against the backdrop of the world slowly recovering from the pandemic, high energy prices, and the ongoing Ukraine crisis.

In this context, what are the actions that COP27 must prioritise? A focus on the developing world and poorer nations is key, and a threepronged approach can be considered by the emerging grouping of global South nations in the talks.

First, they must push COP27 to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCC) principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR–RC). The developed countries’ narrative in the run-up to COP27 has been that all nations (not just historical emitters) must make efforts towards emission reductions. However, the per capita emissions of developing economies have been historically low. Given the stark per capita emission inequality, it is unjust, for example, to demand that India — which has less than 1.9 metric tonnes (Mt) CO2 emission per capita — to undertake costs similar to nations such as the United States (US) whose per capita emission stands at over 15.52 Mt CO2. There are early signs that developed nations are again pushing this agenda, but the global South caucus must ask for adequate time, financial and technological assistance and policy space to transition to a low-carbon future.

Moreover, there is a policy gap in climate mitigation efforts from developed countries. A 2022 study published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) pointed out that developed members of the G20 – responsible for around 75% of global GHG emissions – are not on course to meet their climate targets. Ironically, India, a developing country, is the only G20 member that is not just on course, but has also been significantly enhancing its contributions towards mitigation. Developed nations must be held accountable to the world by poorer countries.

Second, they must prompt COP27 to make the urgently required progress towards assisting the most-vulnerable countries in enhancing their climate resilience and adaptation. The IPCC report highlights that between 2010 and 2020, climate-induced extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and storms killed 15 times as many people in highly vulnerable developing countries compared to developed nations. UNEP estimates that the cost of adaptation will vary from $140 billion to $300 billion per year by 2030. The current provision of $100 billion annually for mitigation and adaptation is grossly insufficient to assist developing countries. Further, developed countries still need to meet their annual $100 billion climate finance commitment in 2020 and 2021. Confronting these challenges requires a concerted response to ensure high-vulnerability populations have the financial, new technological and institutional resources they need.

Third, despite pushback, developing countries should ask for loss and damage to be established as a permanent agenda at future COPS. The IPCC report stressed that even the most effective adaptation measures will not prevent all losses and damages in vulnerable regions. Therefore, it will be critical to expediting urgent progress on the operationalisation and funding of the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage (SNLD), which can assist developing countries with technical assistance in averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage. This conversation has come back into the negotiation mainstream after several years and developing countries must not allow it to go to the back-burner again.

Any further delay in implementing action will lead to great costs that will hurt developing countries disproportionately. Failing to support these nations adapting to the worsening climate impact today will influence the scale of devastation tomorrow. The international community must stand in solidarity.