Governments meet ahead of COP27 to pave the way for progress in Sharm el-Sheikh
Environment ministers from over 40 different countries met 18 – 19 July at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin, Germany to prepare the ground for this year’s annual UN climate conference. This year’s Conference of the Parties (COP 27) will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from 7-18 November.
European Commission Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans represented the EU at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. He facilitated a session in which ministers engaged on funding arrangements to address loss and damage caused by climate-related events. As was the case at the Bonn Climate Conference last month, both loss and damage and adaptation are set to be key issues at the forthcoming COP. The EU and other developed countries recognised the urgency of addressing this issue, in particular by strengthening existing arrangements and institutions that have demonstrated experience and expertise in supporting communities in need.
In his interventionSearch for available translations of the preceding linkEN•••, the Executive Vice-President made the case for the world’s major emitters to make deeper and faster cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. Recalling the warnings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), he called for all Parties to now focus their efforts on implementing their climate commitments in this pivotal decade. The EU will continue to work closely with vulnerable developing countries and its G7 partners to encourage major emitters to raise their pre-2030 ambition through a new Mitigation Work Programme to be launched in Sharm El-Sheikh. The onus is on developed countries to accelerate their green transitions and put social justice at their core as the response to the economic pressures resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On the fringes of the meeting, Frans Timmermans also participated in the High Ambition Coalition Ministerial meeting. He also held bilateral meetings with Germany’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, US Special Climate Change Envoy, John Kerry and the Acting Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC to discuss how the EU can work with its partners to advance the shared agenda of meeting our global climate ambitions.
