COP27 (Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt – 2022)

The 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) under the UNFCCC was held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022.

Institutional Position

• CMA4: 4th Meeting of Parties to the Paris Agreement
• CMP17: 17th Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol

👉 While COP26 focused on finalising rules, COP27 focused on climate impacts, vulnerability, and protection mechanisms—especially for countries already suffering climate disasters.

🛡️ Global Shield Against Climate Risks Initiative

One of the most significant outcomes of COP27 was the launch of the Global Shield Against Climate Risks Initiative.

What is this initiative?

• A collaborative mechanism between:
  • Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group
  • Group of Seven (G7) countries
• Objective: Provide pre-arranged, rapid financial support during climate disasters

📌 The emphasis here is on speed and predictability, not post-disaster charity.

Why was it needed?

• Climate disasters are becoming:
  • More frequent
  • More intense
• Traditional climate finance is:
  • Slow
  • Bureaucratic
• Example: Pakistan floods (2022) highlighted this gap vividly

First Beneficiary Countries

Pakistan | Bangladesh | Costa Rica | Fiji | Senegal | Philippines | Ghana

👉 This marks a shift from reactive aid to anticipatory climate risk financing.

🌏 Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group

The Vulnerable Twenty (V20) is a coalition of finance ministers from climate-vulnerable economies.

Key Features:

• Originated in Lima, Peru (2015)
• A cooperation initiative under the Climate Vulnerable Forum
• Membership: 58 climate-vulnerable countries

🎯 Purpose:

• Amplify the collective voice of countries:
  • Least responsible for climate change
  • Most affected by its impacts

🌐 Group of Seven (G7)

The Group of Seven (G7) is a powerful informal grouping of:

Canada | France | Germany | Italy | Japan | United Kingdom | United States

Key Characteristics:

• No treaty base
• No permanent secretariat
• Rotating annual presidency

Global Weight:

• Over 50% of global net wealth
• 32–46% of global GDP
• Only 10% of world population

👉 Their collaboration with V20 at COP27 reflects recognition of climate vulnerability as a global systemic risk.

🐘 Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) and Climate Change

An important but less-discussed dimension of COP27 came from a paper released by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Core Argument:

Policymakers have grossly underestimated the impact of Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) on ecosystem services related to climate change.

Especially affected:

• Carbon sequestration
• Carbon storage

🌳 Role of Trees: Dalbergia Genus

• Trees of the Dalbergia genus (e.g., Indian Rosewood):
  • High carbon sequestration potential
  • Protected in many countries
• Yet, they are illegally trafficked globally

👉 This directly weakens natural carbon sinks.

🦏 Ecosystem Engineers

What are Ecosystem Engineers?

Species that modify, create, or maintain habitats, either:

• Autogenic engineers (through their own biology)
• Allogenic engineers (by physically altering the environment)

Illegal wildlife trade has pushed several ecosystem engineers towards collapse, with direct climate consequences.

African Forest Elephants

• Population declined by 86% in the last 30 years
• Role:
  • Regulate vegetation through grazing
  • Enhance nutrient transport
  • Increase long-term carbon stocks

📌 Though they reduce above-ground carbon locally, their overall ecological role increases carbon storage capacity.

White Rhinoceros

• Influence the carbon cycle through:
  • Soil compaction
  • Bioturbation (soil disturbance)
• These processes affect:
  • Soil respiration
  • Carbon fluxes

Pangolins

• Most trafficked mammals globally
• Feed on termites

📌 Climate relevance:

• Termites emit 1–3% of natural global annual GHG emissions
• Pangolins regulate termite populations, indirectly reducing emissions

📊 Conservation Status of Ecosystem Engineers

African Forest Elephants

• IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered (CR)
• CITES: Appendix I

White Rhinoceros (Southern Africa)

• IUCN Red List: Near Threatened (NT)
• CITES: Appendix II

Pangolins

• CITES: Appendix I
• Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I
• IUCN Red List:
  • Chinese Pangolin: Critically Endangered (CR)
  • Indian Pangolin: Endangered (EN)

🌱 Long-Term Low-Emission Development Strategy (LT-LEDS)

At COP27, India submitted its Long-Term Low-Emission Development Strategy (LT-LEDS) to the UNFCCC.

What is LT-LEDS?

• LT-LEDS is a qualitative long-term planning document mandated under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
• It explains how a country will transform its economy beyond short-term NDCs.
• Focus is on aligning development with:
  • 45% global emission reduction by 2030
  • Net zero emissions around mid-century

📌 All Paris Agreement signatories were required to submit LT-LEDS by 2022.

🇮🇳 India’s LT-LEDS: Foundational Logic

India’s LT-LEDS is rooted in four fundamental realities, not ideological commitments.

Historical Responsibility

• India’s cumulative GHG emissions are minuscule
  • Despite having ~17% of the world’s population

👉 This reinforces India’s stance on climate equity.

Developmental Energy Needs

• India has significant energy requirements for:
  • Poverty reduction
  • Infrastructure expansion
  • Industrial growth

📌 Climate action cannot come at the cost of developmental justice.

Commitment to Low-Carbon Pathways

• India is already implementing low-carbon strategies:
  • Renewables
  • Energy efficiency
  • Electric mobility

Need for Climate Resilience

• India is highly vulnerable to:
  • Heatwaves
  • Floods
  • Droughts
• Hence, resilience is as important as mitigation.

⚖️ Nature of India’s Transition Strategy

India emphasised that:

• Resource use will be rational and efficient
• Energy security will not be compromised
• Fossil fuel transition will be:
  • Just
  • Smooth
  • Inclusive
  • Sustainable

👉 This directly aligns with the idea of a Just Transition.

🚗 Sectoral Strategies under India’s LT-LEDS

🔹 Transport Sector

• Biofuels:
  • Ethanol blending in petrol → 20% by 2025
• Electric Vehicles
• Green Hydrogen
• Nuclear Energy:
  • Three-fold increase in nuclear capacity by 2032

📌 Why ethanol blending matters:

• Ethanol contains oxygen → more complete combustion
• Lower fuel use and reduced emissions

📌 Green Hydrogen:

• Hydrogen produced using renewable electricity
• Key for deep decarbonisation

🏙️ Urban Development

• Smart Cities Mission
• Energy-efficient buildings
• Green building codes
• Innovative waste management

👉 Aim: Climate-resilient and sustainable urbanisation

⚙️ Industry & Energy Efficiency

• Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) Scheme
• National Hydrogen Mission
• Circular economy approach
• Focus on hard-to-abate sectors:
  • Steel
  • Cement
  • Aluminium

📌 Hard-to-abate sectors:

• Sectors where decarbonisation is:
  • Technologically complex
  • Cost-intensive

🌊 Loss and Damage Fund

At COP27, parties agreed to establish and operationalise the Loss and Damage Fund.

Purpose:

• Support poor and developing countries
• Address:
  • Climate-induced disasters
  • Irreversible losses

👉 This fund addresses climate reparations, a long-standing demand.

📜 History of Loss and Damage

• Advocated by:
  • Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)
  • Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
• 2009: $100 billion/year pledge by developed countries (largely unmet)
• 2013: Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) — first formal recognition of loss and damage

📌 COP27 converted recognition into action.

🛰️ Methane Alert and Response System (MARS)

Launched at COP27, MARS is a satellite-based methane monitoring system.

Key Features:

• Tracks methane emissions globally
• Sends alerts to:
  • Governments
  • Corporations
• Supports implementation of the Global Methane Pledge

Institutional Framework:

• Part of International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO)
• Partners include:
  • International Energy Agency
  • UNEP-hosted Climate and Clean Air Coalition

🌍 International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO)

• Creates a global public methane emissions dataset
• Integrates data with:
  • Research
  • Regulation
• Launched by UN Environment Programme with EU support at the G20 Summit (2021)

🐄 New Zealand: Taxing Agricultural Emissions

• New Zealand plans to tax agricultural emissions from 2025
• Targets emissions from:
  • Livestock burps
  • Animal waste

📌 Rationale:

• Major exporter of dairy and meat
• High biogenic methane and nitrous oxide emissions
• Pricing agriculture emissions is key to its net zero 2050 goal

🛃 Carbon Border Tax

What is Carbon Border Tax?

• A duty on imports based on embedded carbon emissions
• Ensures domestic industries are not undercut by:
  • Lax environmental standards abroad

EU’s Plan:

• From 2026, tax carbon-intensive imports:
  • Iron
  • Steel
  • Cement
  • Fertiliser
  • Aluminium
  • Electricity

🇮🇳 India’s Opposition (BASIC Group)

At COP27, the BASIC group (India, China, Brazil, South Africa) opposed carbon border taxes.

Why?

• Violates Common But Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR)
• Shifts mitigation burden onto developing countries
• Risks becoming green protectionism