UN climate chief pledges to overhaul COP

The UN climate chief plans to shake up the organisation’s annual international summit to ensure it is transparent and produces results after a chaotic conclusion to thisyear’s COP27inEgypt. Simon Stiell, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said hours after the conference closedin Egypt that he intended to make the processas “effectiveas possible”. This year some key participants expressed dissatisfaction with the way the event at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh was run. Many vulnerable countries welcomed agreement on a fund to help poor countries cope with climate change, but others said the fortnight of talks and all-night wrangling endedwith no progress on globalwarming targets. Some diplomatsquestioned theintegrity of the COP27 Egyptian presidency. “I’ve never experienced anything like this: untransparent, unpredictable and chaotic,” saidone. Negotiating teams were given little time early on Saturday to review draft texts on several issues, said people familiar with the matter. That was “not a usual procedure”, said one EU official. The talks took the summit, which drew about 45,000 participants,into a second day of overtime, and the final plenary session was held on Sunday after 3am. Stiell, previously Grenada’s climate resilience and environment minister, said hewould review the COP processon returning to theUN body’s secretariatin Bonn, Germany. Elements “can be done better”, Stiell said, and recommendations would be made to the next presidency, held by United Arab Emirates, aheadof the2023 conference. “The process needs to be as streamlined as possible, it needs to be as effective as possible,” he said. The COP27 conclusion drew mixed reactions. The finance minister of Tuvalu lamented a “missed opportunity” and some western negotiators blamed energy producers such as Saudi Arabia forwatering down the final deal. The presenceofmore than600lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry drew complaints from a group of scientists and climate advocacy groups. The final hours were marked by a failed attempt by dozens of countries to include a pledge to phase down fossil fuels. Stiell said of the lobbyists: “You can’t ignore them.Thequestionis how doyou engage them and where do they fit within the process. I believe it’s absolutely essential the process is completely transparent.” Asked if said transparency had been lacking at COP27, Stiell said: “I can’t answer that butitis something I’m going tolookat.” Oneway toimprove the processmight be to involve future presidencies alongside the presidency-elect for a given year,Stiell said. COP27 had not been a failure, said Stiell. “There was no backsliding in an environment that is very difficult, with the energy crisis, where you have seen increases in the use of fossil fuels,” he said. The absence of backsliding was “noteworthy”, but next year “thereis an opportunity for greater performance”. A focus on the energy sector next year “was an obvious place to start”, he added. The science was clear, Stiell said, about the need to “transition away from fossil fuels”.