COP27: What is the Egypt climate conference and why is it important?

Image source, Reuters

At the UN climate summit in Egypt, world leaders will discuss how to address climate change.

Climate-related disasters and broken temperature records followed.

Every year, the UN holds a climate summit to agree on steps to limit global temperature rises.

The conference of the parties is referred to as COPs. The original UN climate agreement was signed in 1992.

The 27th UN meeting on climate is called COP 27. The event will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal are the main cause of global warming.

According to the UN's climate scientists, global temperatures have risen 1.1C and are on their way to 1.5C.

Half the word's population could be exposed to life threatening heat and humidity if temperatures rise 1.7 to 1.8C above 1850s levels, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Image source, Reuters

The governments are invited.

The Russian leader is not expected to attend. The country's delegates are expected to show up.

China has not said whether their leaders will participate.

The host country of Egypt has called on countries to show leadership.

Businesses and faith groups will also participate.

The COP has been hosted in Africa before.

It is hoped that it will draw attention to the effects of climate change. Africa is one of the most vulnerable places in the world, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

According to the UN, 17 million people in east Africa are at risk of going hungry due to the lack of rain.

Egypt has been chosen as the venue.

The government stopped some people from attending because they criticized it.

So far, only 25 have done so.

Three main areas will be the focus of the 27th Congress of the United Nations.

• Reducing emissions
• Helping countries to prepare and deal with climate change
• Securing technical support and funding for developing countries for these activities

Areas not fully resolved will be picked up.

• Loss and damage finance - money to help countries recover from the effects of climate change, rather than just prepare for it
• Establishment of a global carbon market - to price the effects of emissions into products and services globally
• Strengthen the commitments to reduce coal use

There will be themed days for focused talks and announcements.

At the climate talks, finance has been a point of contention.

In 2009, developed countries committed to give $100 billion a year by 2020 to developing countries to help them reduce emissions.

The target was missed and moved to another year.

The impacts of loss and damage are being called for.

The option of making payments was not included in the Bonn climate talks due to the concerns of wealthier nations.

There should be discussions at COP 27.

• Paris accord: The Paris Agreement united all the world's nations - for the first time - in a single agreement on tackling global warming and cutting greenhouse-gas emissions
• IPCC: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change examines the latest research into climate change
• 1.5C: Keeping the rise in global average temperature below 1.5C - compared with pre-industrial times - will avoid the worst impacts of climate change, scientists say

Depending on who you talk to.

Loss and damage finance will be an agenda item for developing countries. They would like to have a date set for when they might get paid.

China, India, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa are some of the large developing countries that have committed to moving away from coal.

More countries may sign up to the pledges from last year.

Some scientists think world leaders have left it too late and that 1.5C won't be achieved.