Reflections on COP27

Climate-justice academic Professor Tahseen Jafry has labelled the COP27 decision to take forward a mandate on loss and damage an “historical breakthrough”.

World leaders committed to establishing a fund to help countries impacted by climate change at the eleventh hour of the United Nations climate summit, which was held in Sharm El Sheikh.

Professor Jafry, the Director of Glasgow Caledonian University's Mary Robinson Centre for Climate Justice, was herself involved in key discussions at the World Health Organisation Pavilion and also the Africa Pavilion during the two-week event.

She said: “The decision of world leaders is an historic breakthrough in terms of providing additional finance to help the poorest and most vulnerable nations cope with the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events.

“However, it remains to be seen exactly how much will be available, when and within what parameters.

“Similar to COP26, the last minutes of the negotiations at these events are critical junctures. Earlier in the week, the subject of loss and damage was off the table until 2024. The issue of climate finance was hanging over from COP26 and needed to be addressed. This is not only for mitigation and adaptation projects, but for loss and damage caused by climate disasters. This should have been the single biggest agenda item at the climate negotiations this year.

“The world’s poorest nations to have been impacted by climate-related disasters, such as Pakistan, have been calling for the establishment of a global finance facility for loss and damage. By way of example, the financial cost for Pakistan to recover from the devastating floods earlier this year is in the order of US$30-40 billion, of which half may be supported by donors and other mechanisms, but the other half needs to be met by the country itself.

“The global finance mechanism is for channelling money for climate reparations and damage done by the impacts of extreme weather-related disasters caused by carbon emissions from the world’s biggest and largest economies, and this in addition to the already unmet pledge of the US$100 billion required annually for tackling climate change and adaptation.

“There is no doubt that getting finance to those who need it the most, especially women, is urgent, as well as recognising non-economic loss and damage such as gender-based violence and mental health, which are not easy to quantify nor quality as they are the hidden dangers of climate change.”

Despite agreeing on climate finance, world leaders did not increase their ambition for a reduction of emissions, which Professor Jafry considers disappointing.

She said: “There is still much that needs to be resolved on keeping the agenda to phasing out rather than phasing down coal by the most polluting countries.

“We can expect many more climate disasters and many more lives put at risk. According to the World Bank, they estimate that, by 2040, more than 130 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty by climate change.”

Professor Jafry also discussed her recent research exploring the links between climate change, gender-based violence and mental health.

She said: “With the WHO, we held a far-reaching and deep conversation on justice, equity and the safety and survival of women and girls. We shared new breakthroughs in terms of providing new evidence of the increasing incidence of GBV and mental-health struggles for women, and called for solution to protect, support and prevent those most at risk as well as continuing to build the evidence base that can guide and support new policies and frameworks at local, national and international levels.

“Ending on a positive note, COP27 has, for the first time, acknowledged the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and the right to health as well as the right to gender equality and empowerment of women.”