The world climate change summit in Egypt is to hear from heads of state and government looking to galvanise global action to tackle climate change.
The initial high-level segment of the COP27 gathering in Sharm el-Sheikh will comprise leaders’ speeches – from major oil producing economies as well as from developing countries worst-hit by the effects of global warming.
Richer nations are to outline their programmes for reducing carbon emissions.
Poorer countries have welcomed the prospect of a debate on setting up a compensation fund, with the issue included on the agenda for the first time since the United Nations adopted its climate convention.
At the opening ceremony on Sunday, COP27 officials urged governments to keep up efforts to combat climate change despite the economic crises linked to Russia’s war on Ukraine, an energy crunch, soaring inflation and the persistent Covid-19 pandemic.
“The fear is other priorities take precedence,” top United Nations climate change official Simon Stiell told a news conference.
The “fear is that we lose another day, another week, another month, another year – because we can’t”, he said.
The world must slash greenhouse emissions by 45 percent by 2030 to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above late-19th-century levels.
But current trends would see carbon pollution increase 10 percent by the end of the decade and Earth’s surface heat up 2.8C, according to findings unveiled in recent days.
Only 29 of 194 countries have presented improved climate plans, as called for at the UN talks in Glasgow last year, Stiell noted.
