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Dear
Friends!
In November, the Conference of
the Parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, known as COP27,
took place. This year it was overshadowed by
Russia's military intervention in Ukraine. The
sanctions that followed Russia’s invasion and
the escalation of the most significant
international confrontation since the Cold War
have called the achievement of the main goal of
climate policy – limiting the increase in
surface temperature at 1.5-2˚ Celsius – into
question. It has become unclear how countries
will reach agreement in a situation where one of
the main greenhouse gas emitters (Russia) is
carrying out a military invasion of a
neighboring state. Against the backdrop of this
war, less attention and fewer resources are
devoted to the climate issue, and the world’s
energy sector and food markets are being
restructured.
The topic of the war did
not take center stage at the meeting in Sharm
el-Sheikh. Countries did agree on the creation
of a financial “Loss and Damage” compensation
fund for the states most affected by climate
change and that lack the financial ability to
adapt to it. However, when it came to new
targets for reducing emissions or gradually
reducing fossil fuel use, the summit did not
bring major breakthroughs.
One way or
another, the war was a topic of conversation at
COP27. It was certainly a theme at Ukraine’s
pavilion, the presence of which was a first for
the summit.
Special for UWEC Work Group,
Tetiana Zhavzharova of Ukrainian Climate Network
analyzed the main events held at Ukraine’s
pavilion. It was the first time that volumes of
additional greenhouse gas emissions caused by
the military invasion were presented, amounting
to 82.8 million tons of CO2. This figure is
comparable to the total emissions of some
individual nations and is a preliminary
calculation. Additionally, these numbers stem
from monitoring on only the Ukrainian side;
Russia does not publish its
data.
Ukraine’s recovery was also a topic
of discussion at its pavilion. Such a plan must
be based not only on “green” solutions, such as
energy independence, sustainable economy, and
renewable energy, but also on the principles of
a just transition and gender
equality.
Unlike
Ukraine, the Russian delegation was remembered
not so much for its thoughts about the future,
but for its unwillingness to give up the past.
Maintaining a low profile at the summit and
avoiding loud statements or their own separate
pavilion, Russian representatives reaffirmed
their unwillingness to abandon carbon fuel,
lobbied for nuclear energy, and generally made
rather ambiguous statements, including calling
the human impact on climate change into
question, as well as proposing to play hockey on
an icebreaker ship in Antarctica.
The
Russian delegation’s main COP27 presentation
took place on the same day that Ukraine's
civilian infrastructure came under the heaviest
shelling. Many homes, hospitals, sewage
treatment plants, businesses, and other
facilities were left without power. As a result
of this and subsequent attacks, all of Ukraine’s
nuclear power plants were forced to temporarily
switch to emergency mode. This juxtaposition of
Russia’s actions was one of the reasons for
civil society protests against Russia during the
summit. Svitlana Romanko, Founder and Director
of Razom We Stand, was an active participant. We
are pleased to share the transcript of her
interview on the Eurasian Climate Brief
podcast.
We
invited UWEC Work Group Co-editor Angelina
Davydova to summarize the results of COP27.
Although the war was not on the summit agenda,
it is clear that it influenced a number of
decisions. Fears of an energy crisis prevented
countries from making a more ambitious decision
to move away from fossil fuels. Gas extraction
in Africa was also an urgent topic at the
summit, as the war and resulting sanctions
provoke increased resource extraction around the
world. The Russian invasion is the “elephant in
the room” that many try to ignore, despite its
direct effect on global climate
policy.
We
will continue to monitor the war’s environmental
consequences on both our website, on Twitter and Facebook pages. Join the
conversation!
Wishing
you strength and peace!
Aleksei
Ovchinnikov
Editor, UWEC Work
Group |
