In November 2022, leaders and advocates from many different sectors of society - governments, cities, businesses, civil society to climate activists - will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference or COP27 in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
“We came out of Paris, COP21, with a historic agreement which set out a framework of what needs to be done, and then in Glasgow last year, an agreement on how to do it,” said Simon Stiell, the sixth Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or UN Climate Change.
“We're counting down now to COP27 in Sharm el Sheikh and that is going to be about actually getting stuff done - it’s taking the framework that's clearly outlined and setting that to action.
2022 marks seven years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change - a landmark international treaty to tackle the climate crisis. The agreement calls for limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. To get there, the world needs to halve its carbon emissions by 2030.
“Even now at 1.1°C, many communities around the world, vulnerable countries are struggling. And that struggle is just going to continue to get worse, even if we attain that magical number of 1.5°C. The world that we live in is a lot hotter, and the extreme weather events and impacts are still going to be considerable. So, the need to adapt to this changing environment is the number one priority, certainly for those climate vulnerable countries,” warns Stiell, who is no stranger to the devastating impacts of a changing climate.
Prior to joining UNFCCC, Stiell served as the Minister for Climate Resilience and Environment in Grenada - one of the many countries and communities in the Caribbean where climate change remains an existential threat. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan caused damages over 200 per cent of the island’s GDP. The following year, Hurricane Emily intensified the costs, says the International Monetary Fund.
“Grenada hadn't experienced a hurricane for close to 50 years and then in the space of just 10 months two hurricanes pass through, devastating the island,” explained Stiell.
“All of these years later, as an economy, how the country functions, is still burdened by the economic effects of those two traumatic hurricanes. And the story of Grenada is no different to any of the other islands and we can go through the list of hurricane names - Ivan, Emily, Irma, Maria, Dorian - the names just go on and on.”
“This isn't just about geography. It's about people. It is about community, it is about people's way of life. Every face has a name and it's all under threat,” he added.
The cost of inaction
According to the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the number of climate-related natural disasters more than doubled in the last decade, compared to the 1980s. Floods alone have increased by 134 per cent since 2000, says the World Meteorological Organization. From 2000 to 2019, nearly 6,700 disasters claimed over 1 million lives, affected 4.2 million people, and caused nearly US$3 trillion in global economic losses.
“Enough effort, enough ambition, enough action just isn't there right now, so we continue to see emissions rise, temperatures rise, the focus then has to shift to adapting to these changing conditions,” says the Executive Secretary adding that despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that natural disasters are increasing in frequency and severity due to climate change, “countries still continue to do the things that they're not supposed to do - this dependency on fossil fuels; our patterns of production and consumption are unsustainable.”
“Climate change does not respect borders and boundaries; it doesn't respect political election cycles. But what it does do is impact the lives of people globally,” he added.
“It’s not just from a moral perspective, it's not just from an ecological perspective. It makes good business sense, and the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of action.”
The Global Commission on Adaptation estimates that investing US$1.8 trillion from 2020 to 2030 could generate US$7.1 trillion in total net benefits in five areas – including early warning systems, climate-resilient infrastructure and more resilient water resources - and save countless lives and livelihoods.
“But as the temperature continues to drift up, there are limits to what you can adapt to. How do you protect yourself against a category five hurricane? As we reach those limits, there is more that's going to have to be spent in terms of addressing the losses and damages caused by these events. But again, the responsibility, the actions that need to be taken, the prescriptions that are required are known to all.”
“It is just coming back to that will and setting minds to resolving the problem. And what is also remarkable is that climate change is no longer headline news for just climate-vulnerable states,” said Stiell.
Today, the impacts of climate change are felt all over the world - from the historic floods in Asia to the crippling drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, the deadly heatwaves in Europe, and the devastating wildfires across the Americas and Australia.
“We only have eight COPs to go between now and those big targets in 2030. So, every COP counts,” said Simon Stiell.
“So, the task ahead of us is incredibly overwhelming, but it's still doable. Making the right choices, whether that is countries, governments; whether that's companies; whether that's communities; whether that's us as individuals - the choices are before us.”
