COP27 Dispatch - November 15, 2022

View this newsletter online Subscribe Review EESI Welcome! Today is civil society and energy day at COP27. It was another busy, multi-theme day at COP27. One of the themes was Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) and civil society, which was about the necessary involvement of all stakeholders in the UNFCCC process. The second theme was energy, with events focusing on ensuring that there is a just energy transition away from fossil fuels around the globe. Energy is particularly important in Egypt’s continent of Africa, where 600 million people, or 48% of Africa’s population, lack access to electricity. According to International Energy Agency Deputy Executive Director Mary Warlick, the number of people without access to electricity is set to rise this year for the first time in decades. Yet, Africa has some of the best locations for solar energy generation on the planet, and renewable energy is predicted to outcompete all other forms of energy in Africa by 2030. As Warlick put it, “There is no way to net zero without achieving electricity access for all.” Missed yesterday’s issue? Check it out here! Also, explore EESI's glossary of terms and other helpful guides in the Resources section.

Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm welcomed two new countries, Singapore and Thailand, into the Net Zero World Initiative. (U.S. Updates)   Another 83 leaders made national statements today on their countries’ new and continued climate commitments, building on last week’s World Leaders Summit. (Around the World)   A U.N. report finds that limited progress has been made in reducing emissions. Global emissions must be reduced by 45% within the next eight years to adhere to Paris Agreement goals. (Other News) Sections   U.S. Updates  |  Negotiations  |  Around the World  |  Other News  |  Resources Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm speaks at a U.S. Center event. Credit: U.S. Center Net Zero World Initiative: Last year at COP26, Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm launched the Net Zero World Initiative, which aims to leverage expertise from U.S. government agencies and national laboratories, in partnership with philanthropy, to help partner countries with energy decarbonization projects. At COP27, Granholm announced during a U.S. Center panel that Singapore and Thailand will be joining Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Ukraine in this initiative. In addition, she discussed the release of a series of reports that will cover progress made by the initiative.   Subnational climate leadership: Subnational government leaders from around the world gathered at the U.S. Center to discuss climate initiatives in their regions and officially launch the Subnational Climate Action Leaders’ Exchange (SCALE), which was first announced last week at COP27 to reduce emissions in states, cities, and regions. Washington State Governor Jay Inslee shared that Washington recently became the first U.S. state to require that every building constructed in 2023 or later have a heat pump. The state is also setting aside $1 billion for public transportation and $100 million for electric vehicle charging. Austin Mayor Steve Adler explained that the Texan city is focused on reducing emissions from transportation by rolling out a public transportation system that emphasizes equitable access.   Water scarcity: Leaders from Cape Town, South Africa; Phoenix, Arizona; Monterrey, Mexico; and Santiago, Chile, discussed water scarcity in their cities at a panel hosted by Alliances for Climate Action. Phoenix Council Member Yassamin Ansari explained that the city is facing water scarcity, largely due to drought in the Colorado River Basin. In response, the city committed to reducing water consumption 10% by 2030. Further, Ansari added that the city activated the first level of its drought management plan this year, and residents have voluntarily reduced their water consumption by an average of 50 gallons per day. ► EESI Article: “New Data Tools May Reduce Impacts of Colorado River Basin Drought”   Ministers in the midst of negotiations at COP27. Credit: UNFCCC Packed agenda: Negotiators have what some have described as a record number of issues still on the table to address during this second week of COP27. The COP27 Presidency intends to move the negotiations forward on three paths. The first track involves the issues that were carried over from last week, including “mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, agriculture, gender, and response measures,” according to the Earth Negotiations Bulletin. The second is the cover decision (described below in the updates from the COP27 Presidency bullet). The third area of negotiations is the ministerial meetings. ► EESI Briefing: What’s on the Table for the Negotiations? Updates from the COP27 Presidency: At a press conference, representatives from the COP27 Presidency discussed the current status of the negotiations. In addition to bringing ministers to the table to help tackle tough issues, the Presidency has also started working on a cover decision, which is the high-level document that countries may adopt as part of the outcome of the negotiations to demonstrate their shared commitment to addressing climate change. So far, there is a paper that has no text, but headings of the main issues that countries want to address. The Presidency expects that there will be lengthy interventions from parties before a full draft of the cover decision can be released.   U.S.-China relations: Cooperation between the U.S. and China in the lead up to the Paris Agreement was instrumental in bringing it over the finish line. This cooperation continues to be vital to climate negotiations each year, but over the summer, China suspended its bilateral conversations with the U.S., a suspension which continued through the start of COP27. However, yesterday President Biden and President Xi Jinping of China met at the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, and discussed working together on issues including climate change. According to the White House press release, “the two leaders agreed to empower key senior officials to maintain communication and deepen constructive efforts on these and other issues.”   African negotiating group: Zambia’s Minister of Green Economy and Environment Collins Nzovu, the chair of the African negotiating group, spoke today about the group’s priorities for the negotiations. He emphasized the need for a strong Mitigation Work Programme that encourages developed countries to update their NDCs and provide support to developing countries to implement their NDCs. On finance, Nzovu emphasized the need for accessible and affordable finance from the public and private sectors. He also called on “all parties to work toward constructively reaching an agreement on a framework to enable achieving and assessing progress towards the Global Goal on Adaptation.” Finally, he underscored the importance of loss and damage finance being on the COP agenda for the first time.   ► EESI Briefing: Climate Change Loss and Damage   Prime Minister of Samoa Fiame Naomi Mataafa speaks at the resumed high-level segment of COP27 today. Credit: UNFCCC High-level statements: 83 leaders from countries whose heads of state did not speak during the World Leaders Summit (see the newsletters from November 7 and November 8 for more) had an opportunity to speak today during the resumed high-level segment of COP27. Remarks included the following announcements: Australia | Minister of Climate Change and Energy Christopher Bowen announced that Australia recently updated its NDC to reduce emissions by 43% by 2030. He also said that 82% of the country’s energy will come from renewable energy sources this decade, and Australia will provide an additional $900 million in climate finance to its Pacific neighbors. Iceland | Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Fisheries Svandís Svavarsdottir shared that Iceland and Chile will launch the Ambition on Melting Ice initiative tomorrow with 18 countries interested in joining this effort to protect the world’s ice sheets and glaciers. Iceland will also stop issuing licenses for oil exploration in the country’s ocean area. India | ​​Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav noted that the country’s updated NDC from August 2022 features renewable energy, e-mobility, biofuels, and green hydrogen. Yadav also stated India’s support for global alliances, including the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. Nigeria | Minister of Environment Mohammed Hassan Abdullahi said that because of the lack of public international finance to support implementation of its climate plan, Nigeria is setting up innovative funding schemes like debt for climate swaps, the Nigeria emissions trading scheme, and the African Carbon Market Initiative to move forward with implementing its climate plan. Samoa | Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa announced that the country has committed to planting three million trees from 2022-2027 to help meet its NDC and national adaptation plan. Singapore | Minister of Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu shared that Singapore has updated its low emissions development strategy to achieve net zero by 2050 and updated its NDC to reduce emissions to 60 million tons by 2030. Singapore has also increased its carbon tax and developed a national hydrogen strategy. The country also joined the Net Zero World Initiative led by the U.S., and for its first project it will conduct a feasibility study on creating a multi-country power grid that could deliver up to four gigawatts of low-carbon electricity to Singapore by 2035.   Energy access in Africa: The COP27 Presidency launched the Africa Just and Affordable Energy Transition Initiative. This project aims, by 2027, to increase access to affordable energy and clean cooking technologies for at least 300 million people and increase the share of Africa’s renewable electricity generation by 25%.   Indonesia Just Energy Transition Partnership: At the G20 summit today in Bali, Indonesia, the E.U., France, Germany, the U.S., and other G20 countries announced a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with Indonesia. The JETP aims to mobilize $20 billion over the next three to five years to help Indonesia shift away from fossil fuels. The JETP is modeled after other initiatives launched at COP, such as the South Africa JETP. ► EESI Article: “Looking to COP27, Here’s Where Three Key COP26 Announcements Stand”   The main stage of the COP27 venue. Credit: UNFCCC Emissions gap: The 13th U.N. Environment Programme Emissions Gap Report finds that since COP26, “there has been very limited progress in reducing the immense emissions gap for 2030.” The report states that business-as-usual policies will lead to global warming of 2.8°C (5°F), and implementation of current NDCs would slightly reduce that to between 2.4 and 2.6°C (4.3–4.7°F). According to the report, “to get on track for limiting global warming to 1.5°C, global annual GHG emissions must be reduced by 45% compared with emissions projections under policies currently in place in just eight years, and they must continue to decline rapidly after 2030, to avoid exhausting the limited remaining atmospheric carbon budget.”   Climate finance gaps: Francesco La Camera, director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), highlighted IRENA’s World Energy Transitions Outlook, which found that “global investment needs [are] up to $5.7 trillion per year until 2030.” The report, which looks at renewable deployment across the world, also highlighted, “out of almost three trillion [dollars] of investments in renewables over the past two decades, only 60 billion was realized in Africa.” ► EESI Briefing: The Role of International Climate Finance Public transportation: Sustainable Mobility for All, a coalition of transportation- and mobility-focused organizations, launched a new report, How to Unlock Public Transport for Climate and Sustainable Development, outlining six areas of action, including embracing public transportation as a solution for climate and sustainable development and ramping up finance for public transportation. The report finds that shifting to sustainable urban mobility systems worldwide could save $5.2 trillion per year.   Global Renewables Watch: The Nature Conservancy, Microsoft, and the satellite data company Planet have joined forces to build a new tool, Global Renewables Watch, to map wind and solar energy facilities over time. Right now, the team has mapped renewable energy installations in Brazil, Egypt, Germany, India, and Kenya and plans to map the entire world by 2023. The tool can provide insight into countries’ progress towards their NDCs; illuminate if land use decisions are impacting other conservation values; and help forecast ideal locations for future renewable energy development.   Net Zero Tracker update: The Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, a nonprofit partner of the Net Zero Tracker, hosted a press conference to discuss progress on tracking net-zero emission commitments made by regions and companies. For example, of the 1,177 cities in the system, only 241 have developed net-zero targets, and of 2,000 companies tracked, only 800 have one. But even among those with established targets, many do not include a transition plan or have interim targets, which can make achieving their climate goals more difficult. The representatives emphasized that beyond setting the target, it is crucial to define a plan so the pledge can actually be achieved.   Philanthropic climate giving: Several new philanthropic commitments have been announced so far at COP27. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $434 million in new funding to help “the world’s poorest farmers” adapt to climate impacts, bringing the Foundation’s total climate contributions to $1.4 billion over the next three years. In addition, Forests, People, Climate—a coalition of 13 climate philanthropies—have joined forces to mobilize $1.2 billion over the next five years to end and reverse tropical deforestation. At COP27, the coalition committed $400 million to help achieve that goal. EESI resources Articles: Quick reads connecting international climate talks to Congress Briefing series: What Congress Needs to Know About COP27 Key Findings from the Newest Global Assessment Report on Climate Change Climate Change Loss and Damage Natural Climate Solutions What's on the Table for the Negotiations? Climate Summit Recap: Key Outcomes and What Comes Next Climate Change Solutions: Biweekly newsletter covering climate, energy, and environmental issues COP27 Announcement Tracker: Key Announcements from the 2022 U.N. Climate Summit COP27 Report Tracker: Key Climate Reports Launched at the 2022 U.N. Climate Summit EESI United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Glossary of Terms Go-to Resources on the Key Themes of COP27 for Week 1 and Week 2 U.S. Leaders at COP27: Members of Congress and Other U.S. Officials at the 2022 U.N. Climate Summit Tracking the negotiations CarbonBrief: Reporting and analysis on the U.N. Climate Talks, with in-depth tracking of country positions in the negotiations. COP27 Resource Hub: World Resources Institute's extensive set of resources on the climate negotiations. Earth Negotiation Bulletin: A play-by-play of the negotiations plus expert analysis from the International Institute for Sustainable Development | @IISD_ENB ECO Newsletter: The climate advocate’s perspective from Climate Action Network International | @CANIntl Background and logistics Egypt COP27 Presidency website: Priorities, details, and logistics for the negotiations | @Cop27P UNFCCC COP27 website: Conference details and all updates on documents produced during the negotiations | @UNFCCC and @UNFCCCDocuments Congressional Research Service: Reports related to the UNFCCC UNFCCC glossary of terms Questions about COP27? Reach out to EESI Policy Manager Anna McGinn with your question and we will get back to you or include the information in an upcoming newsletter. Thanks for reading!   This newsletter covering COP27 will be running from November 7 to November 21. If you thought this newsletter was interesting, forward it to someone you know! If you were forwarded this edition, sign up here. Thank you to EESI staff for their contributions: Anna McGinn, Savannah Bertrand, Emma Johnson, and Amaury Laporte Environmental and Energy Study Institute  Daniel Bresette, Executive Director EESI is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 1984 by a bipartisan Congressional caucus to provide timely information and develop innovative policy solutions that set us on a cleaner, more secure and sustainable energy path.