What are the COP27 announcements?

CAIRO – 21 November 2022: For more than two weeks with the participation of over 45,000 participants and 112 world leaders, several initiatives and financial pledges were stated at the Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh where the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) convened to address and respond to climate change crisis.

The most important and historic announcement was the establishment of a long-awaiting Loss and Damage Fund to provide financial aid to the most vulnerable countries to climate change impacts.

The financial pledges and initiatives that were announced during the COP27 as follow in accordance with the UNFCCC:

Countries launched a package of 25 new collaborative actions in five key areas: power, road transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced a USD 3.1 billion plan to ensure everyone on the planet is protected by early warning systems within the next five years.

The UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments published a report at COP27, serving as a how-to guide to ensure credible, accountable net-zero pledges by industry, financial institutions, cities and regions.

A G7-led plan called the Global Shield Financing Facility was launched at COP27 to provide funding to countries suffering climate disasters.

Announcing a total of USD 105.6 million in new funding, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Walloon Region of Belgium, stressed the need for even more support for the Global Environment Facility funds targeting the immediate climate adaptation needs of low-lying and low-income states.

The new Indonesia Just Energy Transition Partnership, announced at the G20 Summit held in parallel with COP27, will mobilize USD 20 billion over the next three to five years to accelerate a just energy transition.

Important progress was made on forest protection with the launch of the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership, which aims to unite action by governments, businesses and community leaders to halt forest loss and land degradation by 2030.

“The COP27 made a historic and unprecedented achievement by founding the Loss and Damage Fund,” said UN Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt and UN Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda Mahmoud Mohieldin.

He announced that the transitional committee that has been announced at the closing plenary on Sunday for the governance of the Loss and Damage Fund will implement its tasks in the coming few weeks and months.

The presidency of COP 27 announced early on Sunday that "parties agreed to the establishment of a long-awaited loss and damage fund for assisting developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change."

Besides the establishment of the fund, the parties announced that they will keep on the Paris Agreement “intact,” saying “no backsliding or backtracking as commitments reaffirmed and strengthened despite global headwinds.”

“Progress achieved across the board at climate change talks and 1.5°C goal still in sight,” the Egyptian Presidency of the COP27 added on Sunday. It also called upon multilateral financial institutions and banks to “priorities to ensure simplified access to climate finance.

The Egyptian presidency of the conference has repeatedly vowed to work on turning climate pledges into real action on the ground, including by ensuring that developed countries fulfill their climate commitments regarding finance and loss and damage.