Thursday is being busy in the corridors and rooms of COP27, the 27th UN Climate Conference, which this year takes place in the seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. That's because the UN climate agency published a first draft of what could be the agreement of this summit.

Even though much of the text is likely to still be reworked in the coming days, first impressions have caused a buzz around important topics. The 20-page document repeats the glasgow climate pact's goal of last year to "accelerate measures to gradually reduce coal-fuel power and phase out and rationalise fossil fuel subsidies." It is noteworthy that the 2021 agreement was the first in the history of a COP to mention fossil fuels and coal as part of the climate crisis.

This year, progress was expected in this area, with a text indicating the need for a gradual reduction of all fossil fuels, not just coal - as suggested by India, the European Union and the United States. However, for the same in the preliminary text, this did not happen.

"After initially not mentioning fossil fuels, the draft text is an abdication of the responsibility of capturing the urgency expressed by many countries to see all oil and gas added to coal for at least one phase of reduction. It is time to end the denial, the fossil fuel era must come to a rapid end," Yeb Saño, head of Greenpeace International's COP27 delegation, told The Guardian.

Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said on a social network that it's "time to take #COP27. Saudi Arabia's foreign minister says tackling climate change 'is not about fossil fuels' is like saying the economy is not about money. The only way to a manageable future for humanity is to start phasing out fossil fuels. Now."

The draft also does not include details for the launch of a loss and damage fund, one of the main demands of the most climate-vulnerable countries, such as island nations. Instead, the text "welcomes" the fact that the parties first agreed to include "issues related to financing agreements in response to losses and damages" on the summit agenda, which had never happened before.

As for the target of global warming of up to 1.5°C, which has been causing apprehension in recent days due to the content of the leaked documents, the draft released today "emphasizes the importance of exerting all efforts at all levels to achieve the temperature target of the Paris Agreement of keeping the global average temperature rise well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and seeking efforts to limit the increase in temperature at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels."

The international NGO ActionAid is asking the Egyptian Presidency to withdraw and rewrite the draft. Teresa Anderson, global leader in climate justice, said: "After encouraging the language proposed by India and supported by the EU and even the US, the language in the draft on the phasing out of fossil fuels is very weak, referring only to coal." COP26 President Alok Sharma told COP27 President Sameh Shoukry that there are many gaps in the text and called for a stronger commitment to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.

"There is a lot of work for negotiators to do, including evening sessions that will test everyone's resistance. I hope politicians and policymakers around the world will press their negotiating teams to pursue an ambitious and collaborative COP27 outcome. We can see the growing impacts of climate change around us, harming lives and livelihoods. We're running out of time and the world can't allow this summit to fail," said Bob Ward, director of policy and communications at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

Source: Um só Planeta