Anticipated Events at COP27

The upcoming COP27 climate conference in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, is generating significant discussions among experts, particularly regarding the energy transition and loss-and-damage compensation for developing countries.

Africa, the epicentre of energy poverty, with 600 million Africans lacking access to any form of energy, is at the forefront of these discussions. Noah Gordon, Europe Program fellow, has emphasised that climate damage is now unavoidable, and developing countries expect separate funding for loss and damage to come apart from mitigation and adaptation funding.

However, the transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources has been complicated by the disruption of global energy markets. One commitment is the energy transition, but the strategic investment plan for the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) will be announced at Sharm El-Sheikh. This plan is intended to inform the allocation of financing, either as loans, concessional finance, or grants.

The JETP, which was announced at COP26, aims to provide $8.5 billion of financing to support South Africa's phaseout of coal. Nigeria, Africa's largest economy and a major oil producer, made a commitment to achieve net zero by 2060 at COP26. The discussion around using natural gas as a transition fuel is crucial for Nigeria.

Meanwhile, many European countries, sitting on the board of the World Bank, are still blocking financing for the use of natural gas in African countries. Nigeria's leaders have been advocating for African countries to use natural gas in their transition. The need for a common African position, particularly around flexibility in the use of natural gas to achieve objectives around electrification, is being discussed.

The United Nations has reported that countries are failing to meet their climate pledges, and warming is likely to exceed the initial 1.5-degree Celsius target set in 2015. Iraq faces food insecurity and drought, and climate change accelerates a great deal of the preexisting risk. Amr Hamzawy, Middle East Program director, noted that the Middle East has been impacted by the Russian war in Ukraine, leading to energy price spikes and food insecurity.

The Egyptian presidency is contemplating activating alliances across continents in the Global South to put forward a unified Global South narrative. Zainab Usman, Africa Program director, mentioned that African countries will emphasize tracking progress of commitments made at COP26. The search results do not contain information about which countries have committed to increasing funding for climate change adaptation at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.

Lastly, Egypt is putting forward a suggested mechanism for loss-and-damage compensation at COP27. This mechanism is crucial for developing countries like those in Africa, which are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change despite contributing the least to its causes. The need for sustainable financing for adaptation, with three-quarters of climate financing being packaged as loans, is a priority for these countries.