Today, water and gender day, kicked off the second week of COP 27 after a rest day on Sunday.

Normally technical negotiators would hand over negotiations to ministers after the COP weekend to focus on political issues in the second week. However, at this COP, the Egyptian presidency is apparently not planning to bring ministers into negotiations until Wednesday. That would leave very little time to agree on the final texts before the end of COP.

This absence or urgency has been picked up by a number of commentators who have noted the absence of apparent progress on texts over the weekend. While the COP president, Sameh Shoukry, seemed confident that the talks would conclude on time by Friday, others have commented this seems optimistic. Some indicators suggest that negotiations are going badly, amidst tensions between developed and developing countries over financing, with little progress, and concern rising that instead of a focus on 1.5 degrees, the language may be moving towards ‘well below 2 degrees C’ which would be a backwards step from the language used at COP 26.

With the G20 Summit taking place at the same time, there is a possibility that a strong leaders’ statement from Indonesia could jolt the COP 27 text forward.

Other COP 27 Developments:

• UN urged countries to use their remaining time in Egypt to make progress on 1.5 degrees, adaptation, finance, and loss and damage.
• Developing countries criticized the G7’s loss and damage strategy which they accuse of pushing the Global Shield Insurance scheme, which could result in the exclusion of some countries considered ‘too developed’.
• The big three tropical rainforest nations – Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – have signed a strategic alliance to coordinate at their conservation summit at G20.
• Germany followed France, Spain and the Netherlands in announcing its intention to exit the ECT, the arbitration system which allows energy companies to sue governments.
• President-elect Lula is reported to be attending part of the second week at COP.

G20 Announcements

• To counterbalance the less positive news regarding the progress of negotiations, the U.S. and China announced at the G20 talks this evening that they would “empower key senior officials” on areas of potential cooperation, including tackling the climate crisis. It was not immediately clear whether that meant China and the US would re-start direct climate change talks, which were stalled earlier this year.
• President Biden announced a $2.5bn carbon capture agreement between ExxonMobil and the Indonesian state-owned energy company, Pertamina. A White House statement noted that the partnership “will enable key industry sectors to decarbonise” and that it would also lower carbon emissions, ensure economic opportunities for Indonesian workers, and help Indonesia achieve its net zero ambitions.  

Tomorrow is Energy Day. Along with Finance Day, this is one of the two most high-profile thematic days of COP 27, with a focus on the just transition in the energy sector, green hydrogen, the importance of improving energy efficiency, and the role of technology in managing and accelerating the energy transition.