How to accelerate climate action?

Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. In every corner of the world there is talk of the goal to reduce effects of climate change. It is about preventing global warming from exceeding an increase of 1.5 °C, but so far the actions that have been taken, since 2015 when this goal was established in the Parias Agreement, are not enough, at least that is what experts say in the discussion of Science Day at COP27.

Johan Rockström, director of the Institute for Climate Impact Research and co-chair of the Earth Commission, spoke forcefully about the presentation of the second part of the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report, acknowledging that “we are in a very messy state , even if it wasn’t ukrainian war or an economic recession”, and the only real thing is that you have to act.

While in the high-level meetings the message has been sent that science occupies a central place in COP27, and that it has become clear that “humans have changed the climate”, which forces the warnings of the scientific community to be heeded and academic world and the need for science-based information to support implementation.

As part of Science Day at COP27, Egypt will release its first Vulnerability Assessment Map, which was based on data from the IPCC that brought together policymakers to support its commitment to planning informed by science and evidence.

The chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on the Climate change (IPCC), Hoesung Lee, said that “today, the scientific community has never been more confident and clear about man-made climate change.”

In 2022, the global scientific community, including the IPCC and UNEP, released landmark reports that require urgent attention and swift action on climate action; In this regard, the director general for climate action, Jacob Weksman, said that “we are still committed to 1.5 as part of the Paris Agreement, it will be in the form of this mitigation program, where we will more clearly detail the process with which we hope persuade the parties to take action on the Glasgow Climate Pact”.

The race for gas is a serious threat

In parallel, Climate Action Tracker, presented a report in which it highlights that “the world has gone too far in its attempt to respond to the energy crisis, caused by the war, to the point that greenhouse gas emissions derived from new gas capacity threatens the 1.5°C warming limit.”

This means that 1.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year could be added by 2030, reveals the report presented by Climate Action Tracker in the framework of COP27.

“The energy crisis has taken over the climate crisis, and our analysis shows that the Liquid Natural Gas proposed, approved and under construction far exceeds what is needed to replace the gas in Russian”, said Bill Hare, executive director of the social organization.

Meanwhile, Niklas Höhne, from CAT’s social organization NewClimate Institute, affirms that with governments focused on the energy crisis, this year has seen little action; there are almost no updated national climate targets for 2030 and no significant increase in participation in the Glasgow initiatives.”