COP 27

On November 15th, all eyes were on the G20 Summit where news that the meeting between Presidents Biden and Xi had been broadly positive–including instructions for officials to re-engage on climate change–along with the announcement of funding to help Indonesia move away from reliance on coal-fired energy, served as a welcome boost to the mood in Sharm.Continue Reading Highlights from COP 27: Energy Day

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.Continue Reading Highlights from COP 27: Water and Gender Day

Yesterday, November 8th, was the second day of the ‘High Level Segment for Heads of State and Government’ with a focus on their speeches and declarations. The real business of COP will begin in earnest today when most of the senior politicians have departed.

Financing for Climate Loss and Damage in Vulnerable Countries

Climate loss and damage is quickly emerging as the key point of contention at this COP and foreshadows a more tense meeting than last year’s in Glasgow. This issue has been moving up the agenda and recent extreme climate events have increased the perceived urgency around this topic, particularly for vulnerable countries. Continue Reading Highlights from COP 27: Financing Takes Center Stage

COP 27 began in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, yesterday. It begins inauspiciously, set against the global impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting food and energy insecurity and dramatic price rises which have pushed climate change down domestic political agendas across the world and increased demand for new sources of fossil fuel to reduce reliance on Russian gas.  By the same token, the Russian aggression creates a lever that presents COP 27 with a rare, perhaps unique, opportunity to accelerate the energy transition. 

Furthermore, since the effects of climate change are non-discriminatory, the need to tackle it is a genuine global need: a visionary take on COP 27 is that it could offer a ‘safe haven’ for international dialogue and collaboration where world leaders can find effective pathways forward on food, energy, nature and security. However, the augurs are not positive . . .

Billed as the ‘Implementation COP’ it was designed to require countries to improve their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) to reducing climate-change inducing emissions. However, the tussle over the agenda, which began at 1300 on Saturday and did not conclude until midday on Sunday, suggests that the alternative name for this COP – The African COP – is more appropriate and that the focus and key to its success lies elsewhere.Continue Reading What to Expect from COP 27

In October 2022, the International Sustainability Standards Board (“ISSB”) met to discuss comments received and future work pertaining to the ISSB’s proposed disclosure standards for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information (“Draft S1”) and  Climate-related Disclosures (“Draft S2”).

The ISSB’s reconsideration of topics addressed in its proposed disclosure standards provides insight into the progress the ISSB is making towards the development of a global baseline of sustainability-related standards.  Additionally, the ISSB’s clarification of certain proposed disclosure standards might also inform the key debates that jurisdictions worldwide are deliberating as they consider and finalize their mandatory climate-related disclosure requirements. Below we summarize the ISSB’s background; key topics discussed during the October meetings; and the ISSB’s “next steps” with respect to the finalization of the Drafts.Continue Reading International Sustainability Standards Board Updates: Progress Towards A Global Baseline