Government Ministers at COP27 Call for More Ambitious Climate Action

Government ministers attending the roundtable delivered a collective call to urgently ramp up ambition across the board, with many developing countries stressing the need for support and sustained financial flows. Most ministers agreed the 1.5°C temperature limit is a “red line” that cannot be crossed.

Mr. Stiell called for an ambitious mitigation work program that would reduce emissions faster, catalyze impactful action, and secure assurances from key countries that they have to take immediate action to raise ambition and keep us on the path towards 1.5°C.

Dr. Jim Skea, the IPCC’s Working Group III Co-Chair, added a sense of hope to the roundtable discussions by illustrating the availability of solutions in all sectors that can be deployed immediately to close the gap by 2030.

According to the IPCC, the available mitigation solutions have the potential to halve emissions from 2019 levels by 2030 and cost less than USD 100 per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent. Marking the vast potential in the energy sector, for example, Dr. Skea pointed out that the costs of wind and solar solutions have dropped dramatically in recent years. He also highlighted the huge potential of emission reductions in agriculture, land use, and forestry, including better soil management and ecosystem restoration. “We know how to do this, it’s as if we’ve laid out all our tools on the tool bench but have yet to pick them up,” said Dr. Skea.

COP27: The Climate Summit of Implementation

IRENA’s global finance platform ETAF just recently managed to close in on USD 1 billion to advance project funding in developing markets. IRENA is also closely working with the Egyptian COP27 Presidency. Under the Marrakech Partnership, IRENA is coordinating the Energy Action Day with partners from countries, regions, cities, and companies. It is encouraging to see that net zero commitments are steadily growing, inside and outside the NDC process and beyond the 2030 time horizon. Surveys show that 35% of the 2,000 largest publicly traded companies globally have or are considering a net zero target.