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![handle is hein.crs/govejvc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: s Congressional Research Service
informing the legislative debate since 1914
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December 19, 2022
The U.N. Climate Conference 2022 (COP27): Outcomes
The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) met November 6-20, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh,
Egypt. Over the course of two weeks, Parties to each of the
three primary international treaties and agreements on
climate change (the 1992 UNFCCC, the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol, and the 2015 Paris Agreement [PA]) took part in
negotiations. Several issues received particular attention,
including (1) the realism of avoiding a global temperature
increase of 1.50 Celsius (C) above the pre-industrial level
and how to phrase related policy language; (2) the provision
of climate finance to assist developing countries to mitigate
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to climate
change; and (3) the establishment of new funding
arrangements to assist vulnerable countries with addressing
the loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of
climate change, including extreme weather events and slow
onset events. The principal decisions from COP27 were
procedural. They were laid out in the Sharm el-Sheikh
Implementation Plan and additional decisions, currently in
advanced unedited versions.
Selected Outcomes at COP27
GHG emission pledges and implementation are not
on track to achieve Paris Agreement aims
The language of the COP27 decisions largely repeated the
temperature-aim language of COP21 PA and the COP26
Glasgow Climate Pact. It requested Parties to revisit and
strengthen their 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions
(NDCs) by the end of 2023. Parties agreed to a new work
program through 2030 to seek stronger GHG mitigation
action.
At COP27, some Parties debated the realism of avoiding a
1.5°C increase in global temperature compared with pre-
industrial levels or keeping 1.5 C alive, on which COP26
focused. The PA's temperature aim is [h]olding the
increase in the global average temperature to well below
2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit
the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial
levels. Researchers estimate that to avoid overshooting a
1.5°C increase, global GHG emissions would need to
decline by 43% (uncertainty range: 34%-60%) by 2030
compared with the 2019 level. In contrast, Parties' GHG
pledges, if achieved, may lead to 2030 GHG emissions
0.3% below the 2019 level (uncertainty range: -6.6% to
+6.0%). According to the UNFCCC's October 2022 NDC
Synthesis Report, the best estimate of peak temperature in
the twenty-first century [if current pledges were achieved]
... is in the range of 2.1°C-2.9°C depending on the
underlying assumptions. Many Parties likely view Brazil,
China, India, Russia, and sometimes the United States as
candidates to strengthen their GHG mitigation pledges.
U.S. GHG Mitigation Pledges in Its NDC
In 2021, the United States communicated a nonbinding pledge
[t]o achieve an economy-wide target of reducing its net
greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent below 2005 levels
in 2030. This exceeds a straight-line path to achieve net-
zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050.
Distinct from its NDC pledge, the Biden Administration also
has pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Demand for climate finance, including adaptation
finance, exceeds delivery
The Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan largely repeated
the call of the PA and the Glasgow Climate Pact to
mobilize and provide for the climate finance goals of past
negotiations. It also highlighted that delivering such
funding will require a transformation of the financial
system and its structures and processes, engaging
governments, central banks, commercial banks, institutional
investors and other financial actors.
At COP16 in 2010, developed country Parties pledged to
achieve a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion in climate
finance per year by 2020. The COP21 decision to carry out
the PA reiterated this $100 billion pledge. That decision
also called for continuing this collective mobilization
through 2025 and for setting, prior to the 2025 meeting, a
new collective quantified goal for mobilizing financial
resources of not less than $100 billion annually beginning
in 2026. Further, the Glasgow Climate Pact called on
Parties to at least double their collective provision of
climate finance for adaptation assistance from 2019 levels
by 2025 (i.e., to an estimated $40 billion annually).
While assessments vary, most agree the climate finance
pledge has not been met and may not be met until at least
2023. A report released during COP27 by the UNFCCC
Standing Committee on Finance estimated climate finance
provided and mobilized by developed countries for
developing countries was $83.3 billion in 2020, an increase
of 4% from 2019 but $16.7 billion below the goal. Of the
$83.3 billion, an estimated $28.3 billion was for adaptation.
U.S. Pledged and Delivered Climate Finance
President Biden, in 2021, pledged $1 1.4 billion annually, by
2024, for the U.S. publicly funded contribution to climate
finance. Congress, as of September 30, 2022, provided budget
authority of not less than $1.1 billion of public finance for
FY2022 (P.L. 1 17-103; Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2022).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govejvc0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)