Timmermans at the COP27:
Can Frans Timmermans bring Earth's Christmas present in advance and broker a climate deal at the COP27 in Egypt?
Another jet lands in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. In this one, a much expected delegate in on board. The EU delegation to the COP27 (the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) is led by none other than Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission, and chief of EU’s green agenda: the now famous Green Deal.
Frans Timmermans visits today Egypt’s “City of peace”, as it is dubbed. Commissioners Kadri Simson (Energy) and Vrginijus Sinkevicius (Environment) are also part of the trip.
With this arrival, the COP27 is asking itself if EU envoy will be able to raise the bar of a conference that, so far, as delivered little and disappointed many.
A failed COP?
The major question of this Conference of the Parties is the demands for financial assistance from poor countries.
These nations, sometimes heavily reliant on their environment for survival, don’t have the financial resources to cope with climate change, for which other, richer nations, are responsible.
[The COP27 talks] have been dominated by the question of whether to create a reparations fund to cover some of the costs of disasters in the developing world. After years of resistance, the EU and U.S. agree on the need to move money to assist disaster-struck communities. The big question is: who else pays?—Politico
According to Frans Timmermans, other big polluters should pay, first among them China and Saudi Arabia. After a week of conference, positions are in a standstill. It seems that an agreement that many hoped could be reached by the end of the COP is unlikely.
A while the conference delivered little, it faced much critics. More than 400 private jets reportedly landed in Sharm since the begining of the COP. A giant sewer leak crossed the conference centers—an uncany reminded of the pressing issue of rasing sea levels. Some criticized the gender imbalance of the conference, with a crushing majority of men world leaders, as the '“family picture” shows. Around 600 lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry could be present at the COP.
For those that still have hope in the format of the conferences, Timmermans arrival may change things around and give a fresh impulse at the discussions.
Timmermans to the rescue?
To give Europe “the authority to lead”, Timmermans announced increased European commitment to fight global warming.
“[The EU is] even having a target that is more ambitious than previously announced – we go from 55 to 57% emission reductions between now and 2030”, Timmermans confirmed.
Let’s see if delegate of other industrial nations consider this higher stake enough to sign an agreement that none want to see achieved at this year’s COP.
In addition to the Commission, the European Parliament sent its delegates, Bas Eickhout for the Greens/EFA and Peter Liese for the EPP.