EESI at the U.N. Climate Summit (COP)

Author: Alan H. McGowan, Lecturer, Environmental Studies Program, New School in New York City.

This Q&A was originally published in the journal Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, here (open access through June 7, 2023)

While at COP27, EESI President Daniel Bresette participated in a November 7, 2022, press conference organized by the Business Council on Sustainable Energy. "It remains critical for Congress to continue to provide the investments and policies needed for the U.S. to meet our Paris Agreement goals," Bresette said in his opening remarks.

You were present at COP27, the 2022 UN climate conference in Egypt. What do you think was its main accomplishment?

• The most important outcome of COP27 was the establishment of a new fund for “loss and damage” caused by climate change. Our post-COP27 briefing covered this extensively, but to distill a complicated topic to its essence for our conversation, loss and damage is defined as the range of observed and projected climate impacts that cannot be adapted to. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, about 3.6 billion people—almost 40 percent of the global population—live in regions that are vulnerable to these impacts. Going into the summit, many stakeholders wanted loss and damage finance to be a top agenda item, but it was not something that had a clear path forward.
• Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados was one of the world leaders at COP27 who made an impassioned plea to other countries to act—especially developed countries like the United States that have emitted more than their fair share of global greenhouse gas emissions over time. By the end of the second week of COP27, European Union negotiators put forward a proposal to address loss and damage finance that was acceptable for the most vulnerable countries like Barbados. The final logjam—U.S. resistance—gave way and the fund was created.
• Creating the fund was difficult, but providing money for loss and damage that vulnerable countries can access will be even harder. COP28 will begin in November in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and by then there will be a lot of pressure on the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and other developed countries to pay up. That is the purview of Congress, though, not the State Department. And “reluctance” comes to mind as a fair description of how Congress feels about this issue. So we have a lot of work to do between now and then to provide educational resources about loss and damage finance—and international climate finance in general—to help inform the debate in Congress this year and beyond.

What did EESI primarily achieve as an organization by attending COP27?

• We realized that we could help fill a key information gap by devoting time and effort to developing educational resources for Congress about issues related to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. In 2021, in the lead-up to, during, and after COP26, which was postponed a year due to the pandemic, we held briefings, published a daily newsletter, wrote articles, and fielded requests from journalists. We provided a valuable service to the policymaking community. The one thing that was missing, though, was an in-person presence in Glasgow, Scotland.
• Being at COP27 opened a lot of doors. I think we were able to strengthen our programming in ways that benefited our audience—Congressional staff who were following along from Washington. We could speak at events, including press conferences, and engage directly with the State Department officials on-site and—most importantly—the Congressional delegations that attended.

In general, what do you think is accomplished at the COPs? How important are they?

• At EESI, we are convinced that it is critical for Congress to care about international climate diplomacy. The United States cannot address climate change on its own. And the rest of the world needs the United States at the table. It is a really good thing for members of Congress to observe the negotiations and see for themselves how countries work together toward the common purpose of avoiding the worst outcomes of climate change.