Explained | All you need to know about ‘COP27’

If you have recently seen the term ‘COP27’ on Twitter or on Facebook or anywhere else and were wondering what it is all about, this article is a must-read! 

What does the acronym ‘COP’ stand for? 

COP means ‘Conference Of Parties’ and it is the name of the annual meeting on ‘Climate Change’ of world leaders organized by the United Nations. Each delegation stands for a party and hence it is called a ‘Conference Of Parties’ or COP. For almost three decades now, almost every country on earth are coming together for these global climate summits.

What is the function of COP?

COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention. The main function of the COP is to review the national communications and emission inventories submitted by Parties or Countries. With the help of this information, the COP assesses the effectiveness of the measures announced and taken by the Parties and the progress made in achieving the objective of the Convention. 

Where is it held?

The first COP meeting took place in Berlin, Germany in March, 1995. Unless a Party offers to host the session, the COP meetings take place at Bonn in Germany which is also the seat of the secretariat. 

The COP Presidency rotates among the five recognized UN regions – Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and Western Europe and Others. Generally, the venue of the COP also shifts among these groups.

What is the ‘27’ in COP27?

Well, it will be the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC. It is going to be held from 6 to 18 November 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. 

COP27 was originally planned to take place from 8-20 November 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, COP26 had to be rescheduled from November 2020 to November 2021. Hence, COP27 is going to take place from 7-18 November 2022.

What is UNFCCC?

UNFCCC stands for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is an international treaty signed in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. UNFCCC is kind of a foundational climate agreement that has provided the platform for most subsequent international climate agreements. It has given birth to both the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement. The UNFCCC entered into force on March 21, 1994, and the number of member countries has grown over the years and now sits at 195.

COP27 – First year with updated NDCs

COP27 will be the first year in which countries will return with new or updated National Determined Contributions (NDCs). NDCs are steps that each country declares it will take to meet emissions targets. COP27 will be the first year in which the new steps will be announced.

Earlier during the Glasgow Climate Pact in November 2021, countries were asked to revisit and strengthen the targets in their NDCs in 2022 moving further from the Paris Agreement that required each party to establish an NDC and update it every five years. 

The COP27 President-designate, Sameh Shoukry expressed hope that the summit will focus on climate finance and mitigation.

India at COP27

The Indian government has recently approved its updated NDC to submit before the United Nations just ahead of COP27. India has committed to reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45 percent by 2030, from 2005 level, and achieving about 50 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy.

It has decided to take forward ‘LiFE – Lifestyle for the Environment’ as a theme of the country’s pavilion at COP27 promoting the belief that lifestyle has a big role in climate change. 

It is consistent with what PM Narendra Modi offered to the world at COP26 in Glasgow last year. Later, a global campaign, the LiFE Movement, was started on the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5, 2022.

Some of the other topics shortlisted for side events include ‘India’s initiatives on clean energy towards inclusive growth and low carbon development; understanding global net zero and its role to keep 1.5 degree Celsius goal alive; clean-tech innovations, e-mobility and adaptation in water sector among 33 broad topics.’

COP26 and the Glasgow Climate Pact

In November 2021, a number of new announcements were made in Glasgow at COP26 involving a wide range of climate topics. The formal outcome of COP26 is the Glasgow Climate Pact agreed to by, and applies to, all countries that are parties to the Paris Agreement. The pact requested parties to revisit and strengthen their 2030 emissions reduction targets or NDCs. The Glasgow Climate Pact also called on countries to set net-zero emissions targets, design realistic transition strategies to achieve them, and align their NDCs with those strategies.

COP21 and the Paris Agreement 

The COP21 held in the year 2015 in Paris is a landmark in terms of the COPs. For the very first time, every country agreed to work together to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees and aim for 1.5 degrees, to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate in this COP. The historic Paris Agreement was born which is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP21 in Paris on 12 December 2015.

It was agreed that the commitment to aim for 1.5 degrees is important because every fraction of a degree of warming will result in the loss of many more lives lost and livelihoods damaged. Under the Paris Agreement, countries committed to bring forward national plans for reducing their emissions which came to be known as Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs. 

Also, Read this article in Assamese | Malayalam