Labeled the “implementation COP” for being the first conference held after the last of the Paris Agreement’s rulebook was agreed in Glasgow, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, succeeded in some key aspects, despite significant geopolitical and economic challenges.
Despite ongoing interrelated energy, food, and financial crises, COP27 adopted—in a historic first—funding arrangements for L&D that includes a L&D fund. Parties also agreed on two key deliverables mandated for COP27: (i) a mitigation work programme (MWP) focused on pre-2030 ambition; and (ii) arrangements operationalizing the Santiago Network, a mechanism to match technical assistance for vulnerable countries addressing L&D.
Parties furthered ongoing work on clarifying the global goal on adaptation and the new collective quantified goal on finance, as well as preparing for the culmination of the global stocktake at COP28. But they also notably launched new work programs and dialogues on just transition, aligning finance flows with a pathway toward low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development, and technology.
At the same time, governments struggled over ambitious language on enhancing mitigation action and support in this decisive decade. Rather than significantly building on the Glasgow outcome, countries just about safeguarded it even as the world takes further steps toward breaching the 1.5 degrees C limit of the Paris Agreement.