During her farewell speech as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Mexican diplomat Patricia Espinoza said: "We can do better. We need to." The hard-hitting message was given in June during the UNFCCC's annual conference in Bonn, Germany, where governments met for the first time after COP26. The tone of the departure from office reflected the expectation hanging over COP27, which will be held in November this year in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt: the next climate summit needs to move forward in implementing climate goals.

On the official COP27 website in Egypt, the organization of the event says that the presidency's vision for the climate summit is about the need to move from the field of negotiations and planning to implementation. In addition, as a legacy of COP27, the event is expected to "be the turning point of global unity and demonstrate the political will necessary to meet the climate challenge through concerted, collaborative and impactful action."

For The International Relations Advisor of the Climate and Society Institute (iCS), Cintya Feitosa, the positioning of Egypt's leaders demonstrates the interest in advancing implementation monitoring. "The Egyptians understood that we are at a stage where, from now on, we need to run to implement goals, promises and deliver on the combined climate finance of developed countries," he said.

The "now" takes place because until COP26, held in November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, the goal was to close the so-called rulebook to implement the Paris Agreement. From this, leaders are expected to move forward on other fronts. "By defining the details that will impact the next steps, the Egyptian presidency has given a great signal that we need to evaluate what is being done. They have a great chance of moving forward in the discussion," Feitosa said.

At the same time, talking about implementation means having a definition on climate finance, the source of the financial resources to invest in the improvements that are needed to address the climate crisis. According to climate policy expert at the Climate Observatory, Stela Herschmann, this is one of the topics that caused the most tension during the meeting in Bonn. "Implementation is basically to discuss where the money will come from for countries to implement, especially for developing nations," he said.

The issue of funding is one of the wounds that remains open after 30 years of climate conferences. In 2009, during COP15 in Copenhagen, developed countries promised to create a fund with $100 billion a year for developing countries by 2020. The commitment has not been met and the new deadline for the creation of the funding fund has been extended until 2025. However, the message that has been questioned over the years is that more and more promises are made, but little action is put into practice.

"When we say that we are migrating to the implementation phase, the issue of money comes to tow, and money weighs on the issue of implementation. Implementing is no longer just putting the promise on the table. It's doing, and to do it, you have to put money in," Herschmann said. According to the World Bank, the group invested $26 billion in climate finance during fiscal 2021, a record-breaking investment in the area. Between 2016 and 2021, the group delivered more than $109 billion in the sector.

By 2025, the World Bank's Climate Change Action Plan defined a commitment to allocate $25 billion annually to initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote adaptation while reducing poverty and inequality. In addition to the availability of resources, the group changed the strategy of the investment portfolio. In 2021, the World Bank did not make any new fossil fuel financing. Between 2016 and 2020, the bank financed 34 gigawatts of renewable energy to contribute to the prosperity of communities, businesses and economies.

For wwf-brazil's Global Climate and Energy Policy Manager, Fernanda Carvalho, in addition to the procedural obstacles that need to be resolved in the COPs, there is also a lack of political will on both sides of the discussion: both developed and developing countries. "The richest need to comply with their funding commitments, but also put into practice the issue of technology transfer, for example," Carvalho said. "On the other hand, developing countries can implement mitigation and adaptation actions that are compatible with the resources they have. It is important to have the funding, but this should not prevent countries from doing what is possible with their own resources," he added.

Another point for implementation to be effective is to increase the ambition of nationally determined contributions, the NDCs, so that it is possible to maintain the warming trajectory of the planet at up to 1.5ºC – which is not the reality with the current goals. "It would be very interesting if COP27 could give a strong signal that the commitments made will be fulfilled. We have to maintain the hope and credibility of the regime," he said.

Source: Um só Planeta