COP27: reports show how much money will be needed to combat climate change and the problem of greenwashing in companies

Developing and emerging countries need more than US$2 trillion per year to tackle climate change

Developing and emerging countries – except China – will need more than 2 trillion dollars a year to finance the fight against climate change, states a report requested by the COP27 presidency and released this Tuesday (8). Almost half of the value must be released by external investors. (The Guardian*)

Investments in emerging markets and developing countries – excluding China – should serve to “reduce emissions, strengthen resilience, address loss and damage caused by climate change, and restore land and nature”, says the commissioned expert report by the Egyptian presidency of COP27 and the British presidency of the previous COP.

The total amount needed for the objectives is expected to reach 2,4 trillion dollars per year by 2030, states the document published on the third day of the 27th international climate conference.

Of the total, approximately US$1 trillion must come from international investors, developed countries or multilateral institutions. The rest would come from these countries' own economies, from private or public sources.

Companies cannot claim carbon neutrality if they invest in fossil fuels, says UN

Companies that claim a commitment to carbon neutrality cannot continue investing in fossil fuels, cause deforestation or “offset” emissions instead of reducing them, a harsh report from UN experts said on Tuesday (8).

“Carbon neutrality is completely incompatible with sustained investment in fossil fuels,” explained the report, commissioned by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who called for an end to the “toxic deception” that these practices entail.

Experts therefore want to put a limit on the so-called “greenwashing” used by companies, cities and countries.

Please note that "greenwashing” consists of a practice of promoting speeches, advertisements and advertising campaigns with ecologically/environmentally responsible, sustainable, green, “eco-friendly” characteristics, etc. However, in practice, such attitudes do not occur. For this reason, “greenwashing” is intended to create a false appearance of sustainability, misleading consumers, since, when purchasing the product or service, they believe they are contributing to the environmental cause.

According to promess of decarbonization in recent months, 90% of the global economy is covered by some type of promess of carbon neutrality, according to the specialized website Net Zero Tracker.

“It's very easy to announce that you're going to be carbon neutral by 2050. But you have to deliver, and what we've seen is not enough action,” said Catherine McKenna, Canada's former minister of Environment and Climate Change and head of the expert panel. .

“We have to do two things to reach zero carbon: drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions” and invest in clean energy,” he told AFP.

At the moment, he said, it is “extremely difficult” to adequately assess whether companies are cutting emissions and called for greater transparency.

(with AFP)

The United Nations (UN) International Conference on Climate Change – COP27 – began last Sunday (6), in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. COP is the UN's major annual event whose objective is to discuss actions aimed at combating climate change. 

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COP27 diary: see what was highlighted on the 3th day of the Climate Summit

Check out some of the highlights this Tuesday (8) on the 3rd day of the Climate Summit (COP27) in Egypt. We had strong speeches from African leaders and the release of new data on the climate crisis.

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