COP27 | Week 2 wrap-up

Hi 👋

I love an African thunderstorm. I can watch the lightning and listen to the rain for hours. It’s one of the things I knew I’d miss the most when we moved from South Africa to the Adelaide Hills in Australia four months ago.

Thunderstorms don’t happen often here. Our neighbour, who has lived in the area for eight years, can’t recall the last time it stormed.

So you can imagine my surprise and delight when a storm hit on Saturday. A proper one. Thunder, lightning, insane wind: the works.

The locals described it as odd. One lady, who has lived in the area for 30 years, says she has "never seen anything like it". The weather is completely out of whack for this time of year, they say.

My joy at experiencing the storm was short-lived, however. It caused some serious damage. Ayva’s school is a 25-minute drive from home. The area was without power for days. Uprooted trees block the roads and have flattened cars and houses. The school was closed for two days until power was restored and it was safe for the kids to return.

When school opened, I was sad to see that the feature courtyard tree had not survived the storm.

Extreme weather events are going to happen more frequently and with more intensity and unpredictability as the world continues to spew carbon emissions into the environment.

Experts at COP27 warned this week that we’re at the point of no return, if we haven't overshot it already. The 1.5C target is out of reach, and the only thing that will save us now is radical action to stop emissions, radical ideas to remove emissions, and radical behaviour change—from every one of us.

Unfortunately, the world remains divided on what needs to happen and how urgent the situation is, as you'll see from this week's coverage of COP27.

I've included some good news, though. And a baby elephant.

— Tarryn

Missed my coverage of Week 1 of COP27? Read it here.

COP27 in a nutshell: Underwhelming

Disclaimer: This newsletter is going out on Friday morning, the last day of COP27, so things might have changed by the time you read this, but progress on solutions has been slow. Negotiations could drag on into Saturday.

As COP27 draws to a close, we're left feeling a bit deflated.

The cover text draft—described as "bulky and confusing" with "too many gaps"—will likely go through a few edits before we see the final version.

At the time of hitting send, these were some of the key takeaways:

• The target to limit global warming to 1.5C stays.

• Ambitious finance outcomes have not materialised.

• Key agreements and commitments on loss and damage have not been signed.

• It repeats many of the goals in last year’s Glasgow Climate Pact.

• It calls for coal power to be phased out but doesn't mention other fossil fuels, like oil and gas.

It's basically a non-paper.

There were criticisms that indigenous and minority groups—those most impacted by the climate emergency—were not adequately represented at negotiations. In fact, civil society did not feature much in talks.

Procedures, blame games, and a breakdown of trust have prevented any meaningful dialogue and commitments, so at this stage, we're hoping for a miracle.

World should brace for catastrophic weather events as 1.5C target slips

🥵 The Global Carbon Project (GCP) has warned that the world faces a 50% risk of breaching a key 1.5C temperature rise threshold in nine years. The United Nations has said that emissions need to fall by 45% by 2030 to keep temperatures below 1.5C. But the GCP says emissions will increase by 1% this year. Meanwhile, experts at Climate Action Tracker predicted that world temperatures would rise 2.7C above pre-industrial levels by 2100. (BBC)

😵 In an eye-opening opinion piece, climate Professor Bill McGuire says the possibility of stopping temperatures from rising 1.5C is alive—"as in connected to a drip, in a coma, and suffering cardiac arrest every few hours ... just awaiting someone to flick the switch and wheel it off to the morgue". (The Guardian)

Climate change boiled down to 11 words

Scientists at Yale have summarised climate change in 11 words:

One quick, easy thing you can do to make a difference

Sign this petition 👇

South Africa signed loan agreements for nearly R5.4 billion with Germany and France at COP27, to "support its shift away from coal-fired power".

South Africa has spent nearly a decade ploughing hundreds of billions of rands into two of the world's most controversial coal-fired energy projects.

The Medupi and Kusile power stations are R300 billion over budget and eight years past deadline. And they need another R33 billion to complete. To me, R5 billion is a lot of money. But in comparison to what's already been plundered on coal—and what's still needed to force these monstrosities through—I wonder how much of a dent it will make.

If I were in charge, I'd scrap both stations, and reuse the materials to build houses, schools, and libraries. And I'd pump the R33 billion into renewable energy projects, which could be online, producing clean energy, and reducing load shedding way sooner than the coal-guzzling elephants in the room.

But alas, I am not in charge.

I fear South Africa has come too far to admit defeat and let a sunk cost be a sunk cost. (Luckily, it didn't take them eight years to realise this with e-Tolls).

South Africa is far, FAR away from shifting to renewable energy. It is intensifying fossil fuel extraction, pushing ahead with offshore oil and gas extraction, and it will never give up on Kusile and Medupi, no matter the financial or environmental cost.

On Friday, 18 November (that's TODAY), the last day of the COP27 summit, the Climate Justice Charter Movement will hand over a petition to the United Nations, calling for "the halting of funding and investment for South Africa's just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy until the government adopts a climate justice agenda".

By signing this petition, you join the call for external funding for South Africa's energy transition to be halted until the government shows that it's serious about ending its dependence on coal, oil, and gas, and that it stops all fracking in the country.

I've signed. You can, too.

News from COP27: Week 2

🏭 The European Union has agreed to the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) Regulation to expand its forests, marshes, and other "sinks" that absorb carbon dioxide. Currently, EU member states have to remove at least as much CO2 as they emit. Under the new law, from 2026, they will need to remove more CO2 than they emit. The goal is to remove 310 million tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030. (Reuters)

🎯 The EU has agreed to the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR), which sets national targets for emissions reductions from road and maritime transport, heating of buildings, agriculture, small industrial installations, and waste management. (Reuters)

0️⃣ The United Nations and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) launched the Net Zero Guidelines to help organisations construct net-zero emissions plans. Described as a core reference text and practical guide, the Guidelines aim to address greenwashing and are a step closer to harmonised global standards. (Reuters)

💣 Ukraine has accused Russia of ecocide, saying the ongoing war is causing an environmental catastrophe, with fossil fuels a key catalyst of the country's destruction. The war has ruined a fifth of Ukraine’s protected areas, with the contamination of previously fertile soils alone costing €11.4 billion in damages. War causes emissions, as does its aftermath, and Ukraine estimates that rebuilding its shattered cities will create nearly 50 million tons of emissions. (The Guardian)

🔭 The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced The Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), a public database of global methane leaks detected by space satellites. (Reuters)

💨 More than 150 countries have signed the Global Methane Pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30% this decade. (Reuters)

🐼 The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) published the Living Amazon Report 2022 at COP27. Described as a "horror story of human destruction of the world’s largest rainforest", the report found that 35% of the Amazon rainforest is either totally lost or highly degraded. (City Watch)

Enough of that, now for the good news

There's plenty doom and gloom coming out of COP27. But there are also a lot of new ideas, innovations, and inventions to give us hope.

💧 The eco-friendly water bottle. The Good Water bottle is made from plant materials and fitted with caps manufactured using a sugar-cane-derived biopolymer. (Arab News)

📡 More climate tech. Senior officials from several governments, the UN Environment Program (UNEP), and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) launched the Technology Mechanism, a joint work programme to accelerate the deployment of transformative climate technologies. (UNEP)

👯‍♀️ Digital twin FTW. Pacific Islands nation Tuvalu will build a digital twin of itself, becoming the first digitised nation in the metaverse. It will use data and simulations to better prepare for and recover from extreme weather events. (SBS)

👚 Alternative-fibre clothing. 33 businesses in the retail industry will buy over half a million tons of low-carbon alternative fibres for clothing and packaging to help reduce global emissions. The fibres are made from waste textiles and agricultural residues instead of forest fibres. Every ton of clothing produced using these alternative fibres will save between four and 15 tons of carbon per ton of product. (Reuters)

If fashion is your thing, watch this video on how Alpine Group, the official uniform provider at COP27, is reinventing and recycling textiles 👇

And now for some comic relief

I'll leave you with this. You're welcome. 🐘

'Til next time

— Tarryn ✌️