The 27th session of the Conference of Parties (COP) in egypt

A necessary signal 

• The 27th session of the Conference of Parties (COP) is underway at Egypt’s sea­side city of Sharm-el-­Sheikh where, over two weeks, heads of government, diplomats, business heads, activists, journalists, and lobbyists will converge. 
• The attempt is to inch ahead on a global rehaul of energy consumption to improve the earth’s chances against catastrophic climate change.

What is a COP?

• COP is the name given to the United Nations Climate Change Conferences. The goal of these conferences is to review progress made by members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to limit climate change.
• It includes representatives of all the countries that are signatories (or ‘Parties’) to the UNFCCC. 
• It assesses the effects of measures introduced by the Parties to limit climate change against the overall goal of the UNFCCC.

Core Principle

• While every COP ends with a hard bargain document, the essential principle remains constant :
• how to ensure that all countries contribute to paying for what it takes to avoid the consequences of global warming without compromising on economic development while accounting for their historical responsibility in exacerbating the crisis.

COPs – Place of Change or Public Posturing

• There are several countries, especially island nations, that stand to lose the most from global warming without having a role in causing it. 
• Given that COP agreements are non­binding on the signatory member states, and volte faces not unusual — such as the United States unilaterally exiting the agreement only to join again — these meetings also serve as a forum for public posturing. 
• Countries announce their commitment to lofty environmental goals but do little to execute the often-stringent measures that this entails because they potentially involve political blowback. 

COP27 – Implementation COP

• It is appropriate that COP27 is viewed as the so­called ‘implementation CoP’, to borrow a term from Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian Foreign Minister and President, COP27. 
• Shifting from fossil fuels to renewable sources is expensive and the large developing countries (India, China, Brazil, and South Africa) while committing to a carbon-free future also underline their right to rely on fossil fuels in the interim. 
• While there is agreement that developed countries foot the bill, the bulk of the wrangling is over determining how the bill is paid.
   

COP27 – Way to More Transparency

• The ‘implementation COP’, India has said, must set out a transparent payment system and spell out how countries already reeling under climate disasters can be compensated. 
• This will also mean greater transparency from recipient nations on how these investments measurably improve a transition away from polluting sources. 
• Unlike Glasgow 2021, when ‘net zero’ or commitments to be carbon neutral were the flavour of the season, implementation COPs are unlikely to result in ambitious breakthroughs. Often, however, it is the unspoken and the subterranean that get the job done. 
• COP27 must send the message, loud and clear, that be it war or peace, poverty or plenty, securing the world’s future comes at a price that only gets costlier every passing day.