With Cop27 drawing to a close in Egypt, now more than ever global leaders and governments from around the world needed to put politics aside, and focus on arresting the devastating effects of climate change before they get worse. Global temperatures have risen 1.1C and are heading toward the 1.5C mark, according to climate scientists from the UN. Let’s look at some of the topics discussed during this year’s conference.
Gas- An obvious starting point due to the devastating effects of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine: the knock-on effect of gas not being supplied by Russia and an unstable post-pandemic economy with costs not looking to slow down anytime soon. Apart from these issues, gas is still a major fossil fuel, and we need to move away from its use. “Lower-emission energy” was discussed heavily throughout the conference, pushing a move towards wind and solar farms. However, Africa’s natural resources and reserves of gas have become the heart of a heated conversation, the balance of economic growth and tackling global warming, which made it a tall order for agreement to end fossil fuels.
Fossil Fuels – At Cop26 in Glasgow a commitment to reduce the use of coal was agreed – the first resolution of its kind on fossil fuels. At Cop27 some countries wanted to go to the next level with this, and look to phase out all fossil fuels, but last-ditch attempts and negotiations failed to come to any agreement.
Banking reform – A lot of developing countries have been calling for urgent reform, pleading with the world banks and other financial institutions to provide valuable funding and economic stability to those nations most in need. They need support to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions, help them not to rely on fossil fuels and encouragement to adapt to the climate crisis. Some reforms were discussed but nothing was set in stone.
As governments from around the world wrangled, debated, and negotiated, on mainly financial and political issues, a major subject was once again largely overlooked throughout: behaviour change.
A recent a report from the Environment and Climate Change Committee of House of Lords in the UK states the current approach is ‘inadequate’ and requires an overhaul if the UK is to reach its targets in the future.
The problem in most organisations is that there is a lone wolf howling in the dark about sustainability, but nobody else is taking any notice. We mention regularly in our blogs about the importance of needing to change from only 2 or 3 people in an organisation worrying about how to use less, to every stakeholder taking responsibility. Studies show that up to 63% of future emissions can be prevented by sustainable practices.
Behaviour change must be the catalyst of our society to slow climate change, promote sustainable living and educate generations to come.
Ref/Source:
What are the key outcomes of Cop27 climate summit? | Cop27 | The Guardian
What is COP27 missing? | The Behavioural Insights Team (bi.team)
