Friday, 18 November

Dear <<First Name>>

COP27 officially draws to a close in Egypt today, although if every other COP is anything to go by, negotiations are likely to spill over into tomorrow if not Sunday. So, it’s going to be a little while yet before we know what’s actually been achieved and agreed upon. 

Will the 1.5°C global warming goal be kept alive? Will the overarching agreement include a call to phase down all fossil fuels? Will the Egyptian Presidency have the necessary knowhow and expertise to bring the talks to a satisfactory conclusion? We’ll have to wait and see. 

There have certainly been some encouraging signs, however. Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for example, has pledged to restore the Amazon rainforest and make climate change the country’s number one priority. And I was excited to read about a new UK government-funded initiative to replace polluting and expensive fossil-fuelled generators in developing countries with greener alternatives.  

Less encouraging, though, was the news that women made up only a third of country negotiating teams at the summit. When will the world ever truly understand women’s critical role in dealing with every aspect of climate change? 

For the Camco team, it’s been another busy week of meetings and events in Sharm el-Sheikh. A key focus for us has been continuing the legacy of REPP, the UK government-funded programme that we manage and whose current deployment phase comes to an end in 2023. To get a flavour of what I’m talking about, watch Brian Wambani talking at the UK Pavilion here. (Skip to 35m for Brian’s bit.)  

In between sessions and networking, we’ve continued our regular updates for ESI Africa. I really enjoyed Karl Upston-Hooper's "what’s what” video tour of COP, and felt inspired by Ieva Indriunaite’s interview with KenGen’s Mary Maalu about gender mainstreaming in action. If you’re interested, you can watch all of our videos here and catch up on the op-eds here. 

Cheers 

Geoff Sinclair

Managing Director, Camco 

COP27 news

Africa: Continent's dash for gas sparks debate (BBC)
- Africa's natural resources are at the heart of a heated debate about how to balance economic growth and tackle global warming.

Africa: Germany commits EUR40 million to AfDB's Climate Action Window initiative (AfDB)
- The initiative aims to support climate adaptation across 37 low-income states in Africa by mobilising up to USD13 billion.

Antigua: PM asks "Why should we live somewhere else?" (Sky News)
-  Prime Minister Gaston Brown, of Antigua and Barbuda, has angrily rejected the idea his people should be forced to migrate, and warned that climate diplomacy is failing to act with anything like the urgency needed.

Australia: Chris Bowen takes leadership role in climate talks (The Guardian)
-  The Australian climate change minister was asked to take over struggling summit negotiations over how to fund climate financing for poor countries.

Australia: Country told to end new fossil fuel subsidies if it wants Pacific support to host climate summit (The Guardian)
-  Vanuatu’s new climate change minister said his government could not endorse Australia’s co-hosting bid if it invested more money in developing fossil fuels.

Brazil: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promises that 'Brazil is back' in climate change fight (FT)
-  In a wide-ranging address, the politician vowed to put the country at the centre of the fight against climate change and called for global efforts to combat inequality and poverty and the reform of the UN.

Climate: Leaders boost sustainable forest management (UNFCCC)
-  The Forest and Climate Leaders' Partnership (FCLP), launched this week, aims to unite action by governments, businesses and community leaders towards progressing sustainable forest management and conservation.

France/ Spain: Countries pledge halt to gasoline-driven vehicle sales (Reuters)
-  The countries have pledged to stop selling the vehicles by 2035, five years earlier than previously planned, as part of efforts to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.  

Gender: Lack of women at negotiations raises concern (BBC)
-  BBC analysis has found that women make up less than 34% of country negotiating teams at the UN summit in Egypt, despite evidence that females bear a disproportionate burden from climate change. 

Pacific: Don't water down pacts at the last minute, island nations implore (Sky news)
- Low-lying island nations have implored big economies not to dilute progress during the closing moments of the climate talks.

Southeast Asia: Region 'muted' on loss and damage in speeches (Eco-Business)
- Southeast Asia is on the frontline of climate risk, but at the climate summit only three of nine leaders from the region who spoke called for loss and damage in their speeches at plenary sessions. 

Ukraine: Country claims war is causing a huge release of climate warming gas (BBC)
- Russia's invasion of Ukraine has caused a large amount of warming gases to be released into the atmosphere, claimed Ukraine at the climate summit in Egypt.

Other news

Ethiopia: Country starts exporting electricity to Kenya  (Bloomberg)
- Ethiopia has started exporting power its neighbour following a week of testing a new transmission line, which has the capacity to transmit 2,000MW, potentially earning the country as much as USD100 million annually. 

Renewables: AfDB Board greenlights USD20 million for clean energy fund (ESI Africa)
- The bank has approved the equity investment into Evolution Fund III, a pan-African sustainable and renewable energy private equity fund that is mobilising about USD400 million into assets across Sub-Saharan Africa over a 10-year period. 

Renewables: EIB Global and AllianzGI to invest in clean energy (Energy)
-  The two companies have committed the funding to support the development of renewable energy projects and hope that it will help crowd in further contributions from investors to accelerate the green transition.  

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