The port city of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt is hosting the 27th edition of the UN-Conference of Parties (UN-COP).

Quick recap

• Last year, PM Modi, at the 26th edition of the COP in Glasgow, Scotland, committed to India becoming net-zero, or in effect carbon neutral, by 2070 along with Panchamrita
• Environment Minister will be leading the Indian delegation to COP-27 in Egypt.
• India is determined to press developed countries into making good their unfulfilled commitment to deliver $100 billion a year of climate finance by 2020 and every year thereafter till 2025.

Conference of Parties (CoP): A Backgrounder

• The CoP comes under the United Nations Climate Change Framework Convention (UNFCCC) which was formed in 1994.
• The UNFCCC was established to work towards “stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.”
• It laid out a list of responsibilities for the member states which included:

1. Formulating measures to mitigate climate change
2. Cooperating in preparing for adaptation to the impact of climate change
3. Promoting education, training and public awareness related to climate change

• The UNFCCC has 198 parties including India, China and the USA. COP members have been meeting every year since 1995.

COP1 to COP25: Key takeaways

• COP1: The first conference was held in 1995 in Berlin.
• COP3: It was held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, the famous Kyoto Protocol (wef 2005) was adopted. It commits the member states to pursue limitation or reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
• COP8: India hosted the eighth COP in 2002 in New Delhi. It laid out several measures including, ‘strengthening of technology transfer… in all relevant sectors, including energy, transport and R&D,  and the strengthening of institutions for sustainable development.
• COP21: it is one of the most important that took place in 2015, in Paris, France. Here countries agreed to work together to ‘limit global warming to well below 2, preferably at 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.’

Significance of COP

• The event will see leaders from more than 190 countries, thousands of negotiators, researchers and citizens coming together to strengthen a global response to the threat of climate change.
• It is a pivotal movement for the world to come together and accelerate the climate action plan after several discussion.

Key agenda of the COP27

Ans. Loss and Damage Funding

• The term ‘Loss and Damage’ refers to the economic and non-economic impacts of climate change, including extreme events in countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
• Rich countries, historically responsible for the climate crisis, have bullied poorer nations to protect polluters from paying up for climate damages.
• The term was brought up as a demand in 1991 by the island country of Vanuatu, which was representing the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

Try this PYQ:

Q.With reference to the Agreement at the UNFCCC Meeting in Paris in 2015, which of the following statements is/are correct?

1. The Agreement was signed by all the member countries of the UN and it will go into effect in 2017.
2. The Agreement aims to limit the greenhouse gas emissions so that the rise in average global temperature by the end of this century does not exceed 2 degree Centigrade or even 5 degree Centigrade above pre-industrial levels.
3. Developed countries acknowledged their historical responsibility in global warming and committed to donate dollar 1000 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries to cope with climate change.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 3 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

 

Post your answers here.

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