Day two of the Cop27 conference in Egypt gets underway Tuesday on the back of UN warnings that climate change has put the world on a “highway to hell”, and appeals from Britain and France to ensure the Ukraine war is not used to stymie efforts to rein in global warming or provide climate justice to poorer nations.
In a speech late Monday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the Ukraine conflict was a "critical moment" that offered a reason to speed up the reduction of carbon emissions rather than slow its progress.
"We can bequeath our children a greener planet and a more prosperous future."
Sunak's words followed those of French President Emmanuel Macron, who warned the world should not sacrifice its climate commitments because of Russia's invasion nor allow its attention to be diverted from the climate emergency by the food and energy crises.
"Russia's aggression against Ukraine has not only brought the war to European soil but it has also brought uncertainty and tension to the world," Macron said, adding it had inflicted "difficulty upon difficulty" on Africa and the Mediterranean.
But wealthy countries must live up to their climate commitments, Macron added, promising that energy savings – and the acceleration of renewables and nuclear power – remained a priority for France.
“The climate emergency is here; it is not for tomorrow,” Macron told the audience in Sharm el Sheikh. Everything that was said at last year’s Cop26 in Glasgow “remains valid”, the President added.
“Even if our world is no longer the same, the climate cannot be the adjustment variable of the war launched by Russia on Ukrainian soil.”
Dumping coal
Macron emphasised the need for continued work on transitioning global economies away from coal.
France would invest €1 billion to help South Africa phase out its use of coal, he said, while looking at similar investments in Indonesia, India and Senegal.
The battle for the climate, Macron went on, was also a battle for biodiversity as he put forward a plan for "country-by-country contracts" with nations home to biodiversity reserves.
"Climate and biodiversity are two sides of the same coin … Countries that have biodiversity reserves have absolutely priceless reserves of carbon sinks, and we must help them," Macron said.
He gave the examples of peat bogs and mangroves – “if these ecosystems are destroyed, vast reserves of carbon will be released" – while adding that Gabon, the Philippines and Colombia had already signed such contracts.
Notably, Macron said France supported a ban on “all exploitation of the deep seabed" – a position he promised to take to future international summits.
The President also weighed in on the delicate subject of “loss and damage”, whereby poorer countries are pushing wealthy nations to commit to a financial mechanism to pay for climate adaptation and mitigation.
Macron acknowledged that it was a "fair debate”, adding that richer nations needed to go “all the way with financial solidarity" to help poorer countries fight and adapt to climate change.
