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Chart of the Day: COP27 – Another Historic Gobbledygook Agreement on Climate Change

Controversial COP27 climate negotiations ended in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, as negotiators from around the world finalized a modest deal to help curb global warming and pay the costs of a warmer Earth .

Judging by the climate scientists’ reaction to COP27, the gap between science and policy on climate change appears to be widening. The key goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C is still agreed, but there are concerns it could slip away. As climate scientist Professor Daniela Schmidt of the University of Bristol said, “Our current emissions trajectories commit us to increased warming and increased risks.”

Climate change deniers or even any open questions about the science of climate change were nowhere to be found at COP27. The media regularly tells the public that “the science is settled” and there is nearly 99% “consensus” among scientists that humanity is causing catastrophic global warming through carbon emissions. However, a new survey finds 41% of climate scientists do not fully understand “Climate Change”.

Led by a Nobel laureate, more than 1,100 scientists and scholars have signed a document declaring that climate science is based more on personal beliefs and political agendas than on sound, rigorous science. Apart from the science, where are we concerned about the global politics of climate change?

First, who are the big carbon emitters? China is currently the largest emitter. In 2021, it produced 12.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide, the gas that contributes the most to climate change. If we look at emissions per person, dividing total emissions by a country’s population, we find that the US is larger than China, followed by Russia. See this in the chart below.

CO2 carbon emitterThe money that is supposed to help developing countries recover from the impacts of climate change has not achieved its goals. See this in the chart below.

Which countries are the current payers of the climate change program? See the chart below and learn more here. Realize that China, the biggest emitter, is not on the list to pay its fair share of climate change.

COP27 Climate Change PayersThe reaction of UN Secretary General António Guterres was somewhat negative regarding the COP27 efforts. He has released a fuller, more detailed statement emphasizing our planet is “still in the emergency room.” He adds, “Now we need to dramatically reduce emissions, and that’s an issue that this COP didn’t address. See some of their comments below.

#COP27 has taken an important step towards justice.

I welcome the decision to establish a loss and damage fund and to make it operational in the coming period.

It is clear that this will not be enough, but it is a much-needed political signal to rebuild the broken trust. pic.twitter.com/5yhg5tKXtJ

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) November 20, 2022

So what was the historic COP27 agreement? Here’s the executive summary, but learn more here.

World leaders did not agree to phase out fossil fuels. Instead, the final agreement encourages “efforts to phase out coal power without lowering and eliminating inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.” Developing countries came to these talks with a key demand: that richer countries compensate them for the rising costs of floods, storms and other climate impacts. Now, they’ve agreed to start creating a fund to do just that for the most vulnerable countries, including island nations fighting for survival as sea levels rise and low-income countries struggling with deadly droughts, floods and tidal waves of heat

The final COP27 agreement sets a timetable for countries to work out the details of a new fund over the next year. It does not say which countries will have to contribute to the fund.

The richest countries said in 2009 they would provide developing countries with $100 billion a year in funding by 2020 to help them limit their own greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to impacts such as more extreme floods and worsening droughts. Despite these promises, the latest account from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that developing countries received only $83.3 billion in 2020.

That’s what the Biden administration has offered: lots of words, money, and lots of regulation. But there’s a big question mark over whether China will pay: the country has huge economic growth and is the world’s biggest emitter. However, it has historically contributed little to climate change and therefore tends to argue that it should not pay for it.

While the final deal doesn’t do enough to prevent catastrophic warming, and is a far cry from what many climate advocates had hoped to see, countries also didn’t go back on previous pledges.

A lot to do about nothing: gobbledygook. Empty promises that have no teeth and little detail. For those who believe that Climate Change is just a scheme to extract money, COP27 seems to have confirmed that belief. Give your thoughts in the comments section below.

See more posts about the chart of the day.

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Syndication source for the original RWR article.

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