Following on from the opening of COP27 on Sunday, the first day of the World Leaders Summit began on Monday. Key issues were discussed and set the tone for the week. Leaders from across the globe weighed in on the carbon emission compensation to developing countries, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis in Europe.
Dozens of Presidents and Prime Ministers delivered brief addresses on Monday to kick off the World Leader’s summit, with some highlights:
- The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, declared that “we are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator…we are in the fight of our lives, and we are losing”. Guterres’ comments come following a year of increasingly deadly natural disasters.
- Flooding in Pakistan reportedly killed more than 1,700 people and, according to the World Bank, caused damage in excess of $30bn.
- Nigeria also saw deadly floods with reports suggesting over 600 people were killed and over a million displaced.
- President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt described the conference as a “unique historical moment…[the] last chance to meet our responsibilities”.
- Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados stated that countries of the Global South still faced climate hazards because the countries of the Global North controlled the money that they need to pivot away from fossil fuels and turn to cleaner energy.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Russia's war in Ukraine had shown that switching to renewable energy is "a security policy imperative" as well as a forward-looking climate, environment and economic policy.
- Kenyan President William Ruto said "loss and damage" due to climate change is the daily experience for millions in Africa, describing the summit as a "golden chance" to preserve the planet.
- Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has recognised the UK’s role in polluting, but has stated that they did not have the finances “to make up for that with some kind of reparations”, stating that net zero would have to be achieved through investment from the private sector in partnership with the international community rather than through taxpayers in western countries.
- Johnson has also said that climate action had been “one of the most important collateral victims” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called for leaders not to give in to “energy blackmail”.
- Meanwhile, current British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has told the summit that Putin’s War in Ukraine is “a reason to act faster on climate change”. Sunak’s stance on green infrastructure has sparked comments from the opposition: Labour's shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband has described Sunak as a "fossil fuel PM in a renewable age".
- President Emmanuel Macron of France has also weighed in on the war in Ukraine, believing that it should not change countries’ commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gases.
- Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, congratulating Running Out of Time, the organisers of the baton relay that arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh after travelling 4,836 miles from Glasgow, reflected on COP26:
- “Countries cannot row back on the commitments made in Glasgow. COP27 must put a renewed focus on the ongoing delivery of the commitments already made and seek agreement for more meaningful action."
Activism is a hot topic this week. Greta Thunberg has declined to attend what she has termed the “greenwashing” conference. Protestors are noticeably missing from the event, due to a number of contributing factors; strict security measures, expensive and limited accommodation, the restriction on civil demonstrations within Egypt and the remoteness of the conference from major cities.
Despite the absence of demonstrations on the streets of Sharm el-Sheikh, activists still seized on the opportunity to push governments to take tougher action against climate change. Environmental groups called for a “fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty” that would ultimately put an end to all new oil, gas and coal projects.
