UN Climate Change Conference ends: What is the outcome?

The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) finally ended at 20 local time after experiencing "extra time". What resolutions have been reached at this session? What breakthroughs have been made? What are the unanswered questions?

Historic progress in establishing a loss and damage fund

For the first time, COP27 included the issue of funding for loss and damage on the agenda, but it is also the thorniest issue in the negotiations at this year's climate conference. After days of intense negotiations, delegates reached an agreement during "overtime" at the conference to set up a fund to compensate for "loss and damage" caused by climate-induced disasters.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the decision to set up the Loss and Damage Fund in a video message from the conference in Egypt. He stressed that "this climate conference is an important step towards justice" and that "the voices of those on the front lines of the climate crisis must be heard."

"This is a historic progress," Li Shuo, senior global policy advisor for Greenpeace East Asia, said in an interview with China News Service after the conference. The most important output of the conference is the compensation fund for loss and damage, and the multilateral process has made a historic breakthrough on this issue. The decision to establish the Loss and Damage Compensation Fund this year, in the context of the impact of global climate change, is a strong response to the appeal of African countries, especially climate-vulnerable countries, and a clear political signal.

Li Shuo said that it was often said that in the issue of climate change, mitigation and adaptation are like "two sides of the coin", and since then the issue of climate change has become a "three-dimensional" problem, that is, mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage.

The General Assembly adopted dozens of resolutions and the presidency called for their implementation

During the meeting, the UN announced an action plan for the implementation of the "Early Warning Initiative for All," which calls for an initial targeted investment of $3.1 billion between 2023 and 2027.

Other initiatives announced at COP27 include the Sharm el-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda, the Water Adaptation and Resilience Action Initiative, the African Carbon Market Initiative, the Insurance Adaptation Acceleration Campaign, the Global Renewable Energy Alliance, and the First Actors Alliance Cement and Concrete Commitments.

According to public reports, the Conference adopted dozens of resolutions on the implementation and governance of the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, and decided to launch the establishment of a global adaptation target framework.

Egyptian Foreign Minister and COP27 President Sameh Shoukry told delegates, "I appeal to all to see these draft decisions not as just a piece of paper, but as a collective message to the world that we have heeded the call to set the right pace and direction for implementing the Paris Agreement and achieving its goals."

Financial commitments from developed countries remain unfulfilled and many questions remain unanswered

The issue of financing has always been the core concern of developing countries. The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen has already made it clear that developed countries should invest 100 billion US dollars per year to support developing countries in enhancing their capacity to cope with climate change.  The basic principle of the Paris Agreement is the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities". It is a basic principle that countries are differentiated considering their different national conditions and capabilities.

Xie Zhenhua said during the meeting that on the issue of funding, developed countries promised to come up with $100 billion per year at the Copenhagen conference in 2009, and it has been 13 years, but it has not been implemented until now.

Guterres stressed the importance of fulfilling the long-missed commitment of $100 billion per year in climate finance for developing countries and establishing a clear and credible roadmap to double financing for climate adaptation.

"Beyond the focus on loss and damage, progress on other issues at COP27 has been limited." Li Shuo frankly said that on important issues such as mitigation, adaptation, climate finance and energy transition, the resolutions reached at this meeting have not been greatly improved on the basis of COP26.

While the agreement on the Loss and Damage Fund at this Congress is a breakthrough for vulnerable groups, how the loss and Damage Fund mechanism will be funded is still under discussion.

Li said that for now, the loss and Damage Fund is only an institutional setup, and it is more important to inject money into the fund so that resources are available to help affected climate vulnerable countries. This meeting cannot solve all the problems, and efforts in these areas should be further intensified in the future.

Climate action still faces many challenges, he said, and there is still much work to be done after COP27.