Cop27: climate conference's 'finance day' yields mixed results

Pledges and initiatives worth billions of dollars announced amid disheartening climate news from India and Al Gore's emissions inventory

Visitors at the Green Zone during the COP27 UN climate summit at Sharm El Sheikh. EPA

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The UN climate conference’s “finance day” on Wednesday yielded a windfall of billions of dollars’ worth of pledges and initiatives to fight the climate crisis threatening the future of the planet.

But with the positive announcements and pledges came news that doesn't bode well from India and Al Gore's emissions inventory, on a day when 200 government representatives, NGOs and financial corporations struggled to secure the massive funds needed to fight climate change.

A man wears a face mask that reads "no climate justice without human rights" during a protest at the COP27 UN Climate Summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. AP

A presentation at the American University in Cairo Pavilion. Reuters

Egyptian artist Bahia Sheha stands inside her installation "Heaven & Hell in the Anthropocene." AFP

Akihiro Nishimura, minister of the environment of Japan, reviews notes with others at the COP27. AP

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, right, and Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate greet each other at the COP27 UN Climate Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. AP

Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva poses for a group photograph with representatives of his country's indigenous people. AFP

People attend the COP27 UN Climate Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh. EPA

Activists dancing during a discussion on leaflets at the Cop27 climate conference, taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. AFP

An activist wears a polar bear outfit as part of campaigning. AFP

From left, Rakia Amandou of Niger, Ba Aminata of Burkina Faso, Kenyan Rosemary Nenini, Fatima Mustafa Ahmed from Sudan and Djeneb Dicko from Burkina Faso at the Indigenous Peoples Pavilion. AP

Abdulla Nasser Musallam Al Rahbi, Oman's Ambassador to Egypt and Permanent Representative to the Arab League, speaks at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. AFP

Climate activists demonstrate in the designated protest zone. AP

Sheikh Abdullah, Director General of Environment at the Public Authority of Kuwait, speaks at Cop27. AFP

Visitors at the Sharm El Sheikh International Convention Centre. AFP

A display outside the convention centre. AFP

A fountain in the green zone at the International Convention Centre at sunset. AFP

Mohamed bin Daina, right, Bahrain's Special Envoy for Climate Affairs and Chief Executive at the Supreme Council for Environment, at the conference. AFP

Members of Extinction Rebellion stage a protest at the Glencairn tidal pool outside Cape Town, South Africa to mark Cop27's 'Water Day'. AP

From left, Fahad Al Maskari of the Khalifa University, Frank Hartmann, Ghaleb Al Breiki of the UAE University, and Mouna Maroun of the University of Haifa, sign an agreement at Cop27. AFP

John Kerry, US special presidential envoy for climate, at Cop27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. AP Photo

Australian climate activists offer bananas to climate summit participants. AFP

Climate activist Sabrina Elba. AP Photo

Egyptian security forces stand guard during the protest. AFP

US President Joe Biden. AFP

Mr Biden with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. AP

A Cop27 sign in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, provides the backdrop for this woman's selfie. Reuters

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi speaks to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the climate summit. AFP

A water wonderland greets this child at an acquarium in the Cop27 Green Zone. Reuters

Mr El Sisi, second left, takes part in a cycling marathon on the sidelines of Cop27. EPA

Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, speaks in Sharm El Sheikh about 'complicated' talks to set up a protection zone around Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. AFP

Frankie the dinosaur. Reuters

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Reuters

Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan, CEO of the Alliances for Global Sustainability; Mariam Al Mheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment and Minister of State for Food Security; and Hatem Dowidar, group CEO at e&. AFP

Sameh Shoukry, Cop27 president, centre left, poses for photos in the youth pavilion. AP

A visitor looks at the 'Zero Point' series of collage portraits by Turkish artist Deniz Sagdic, each of which is made from a particular kind of upcycled waste material. Getty

Participants visit the Ukrainian pavillon. AFP

Mr Kerry speaks during a session on accelerating the clean energy transition in developing countries. AP

Youth climate activists. Pictured, from the left, Eric Njuguna of Kenya, Nicole Becker of Argentina, Vanessa Nakate of Uganda, Sophia Kianni from Iran, and Mitzi Jonelle Tan of the Philippines. AP

Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, right, chairman of the Islamic Development Bank Group, poses for a photo with Mohamed Hadi Al Hussaini, the UAE's Minister of State for Financial Affairs. AFP

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Bloomberg

A police officer stands at the entrance of the Sharm El Sheikh International Convention Centre during Cop27. Reuters

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. AP Photo

Former US vice president Al Gore speaks during a session at Cop27. AP Photo

Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest. AFP

They say current funding is far from sufficient to fight challenges including rising temperatures and sea levels, floods and desertification.

The scale of the crisis has not deterred donors, however. First out of the blocks on Wednesday was the Arab Co-ordination Group, which pledged $24 billion in climate change financing by 2030.

Participants attending the UN climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Getty

In another positive development, the United States and the European Union said they planned to unveil a joint agreement to accelerate efforts to reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane from the fossil fuel sector.

Both the US and EU, the biggest greenhouse gas emitters after China, have proposed regulations to curb oil and gas companies' methane leaks domestically, but they have not yet been implemented.

The commitment announced by the ACG on Wednesday will support the acceleration of the energy transition, increase the resilience of food supplies, transport, water and urban systems, and promote energy security, the group said.

The ACG comprises 10 regional and international organisations, including the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Islamic Development Bank and the Opec Fund for International Development.

“The ACG’s sizeable financing represents decisive and collective action to address one of the world’s most urgent challenges,” said Abdulhamid Alkhalifa, the Opec Fund director-general.

Separately, US climate envoy John Kerry announced on Wednesday the creation of a carbon offset plan that would help developing countries speed their transition away from fossil fuels.

The United States will develop the programme with the Bezos Earth Fund and Rockefeller Foundation, with input from the public and private sectors which would operate until 2030 and possibly be extended to 2035.

Mr Kerry said Chile and Nigeria are among the developing countries that have expressed early interest in the carbon offset plan.

Mr Kerry’s announcement came as the world awaited the final outcome of the US midterm elections, with climate campaigners hoping Democrat President Joe Biden’s $370 billion green energy legislation would not be thwarted even if Republicans take one or both houses.

Keeping global temperature rises below 1.5 degrees Celsius is still possible but will require private sector funding, Mr Kerry said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a Bloomberg Green event on the sidelines of the summit, Mr Kerry said that meeting the goal would require a global effort and that this, along with reducing methane emissions, were key areas of cooperation with China.

Meanwhile, a growing number of countries, including China, said they were prepared to compensate developing countries that had suffered the worst impact of climate change.

Austria has offered $50 million and Belgium says it will give $2.5 million to Mozambique, adding to $13 million that Denmark has earmarked for loss and damage in North Africa and the Sahel.

Scotland, which kicked off the loss and damage pledges last year when Britain hosted the COP26 summit, has also upped its contribution to $8 million.

Meanwhile, Germany is touting its “global shield” project, due to be officially launched in Egypt next week, as a way to provide climate risk insurance and prevention to vulnerable countries.

It announced $170 million for the project this week, while Ireland said it would contribute $10 million for 2023.

The cautiously upbeat mood in Sharm El Sheikh, the Egyptian Red Sea resort where the UN summit is being held, was dampened by an announcement of a detailed inventory of the top known sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The report found that the world’s top 14 individual polluters are all gas and oil fields and their associated facilities.

Former US Vice President and veteran climate campaigner Al Gore. Bloomberg

Launched by former US Vice President and veteran climate change campaigner Al Gore, the inventory found that emissions stemming from oil and gas production were already estimated to be about double what was reported to the UN last year.

The inventory was compiled by Climate TRACE, a coalition of researchers, data analysts and non-governmental organisations who use multiple open sources including satellite coverage, remote sensing and artificial intelligence to track who exactly is polluting, and how much.

Another piece of bad news came from India, one of the world’s top emitters, where a senior official said coal will play an important role in his country until at least 2040.

File photo: Smoke rises from a coal-powered steel plant at Hehal village near Ranchi, in India's eastern state of Jharkhand. AP

Addressing a parliamentary committee, the minister in charge of coal, Pralhad Joshi, said coal was an affordable source of energy and demand for it had yet to peak.

“Thus, no transition away from coal is happening in the foreseeable future in India,” Mr Joshi said. It would have a big role in India until 2040 and beyond, he said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for urgent action to cut emissions, including phasing out coal by 2040.