First draft of the COP27 outcome document: towards possible agreements

The COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh is coming to an end and the heads of the various world delegations are trying to find an agreement. We could already speak of a first draft of the final document, but several points still remain to be clarified.

At COP27, work begins on the first draft of what will be the final document to be drafted at the end of the event on 18 November. The various Heads of State who participated in the Conference of the Parties on the climate are preparing to conclude important agreements.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi at Cop27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh @Credits Ansa

Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans gave some initial information on what the key points of the document could be. Firstly, he said that the European Union could reduce its emissions by 57% by 2030. The second piece of news appears less positive and concerns the fact that, according to the EU delegation, it does not seem there are currently the conditions to find an agreement on the losses and damages at the COP27.

Cop27, difficult agreements on loss and damage

Reducing emissions to 57% is a positive note, as it would be two points more than the target set by Brussels. However, as Frans Timmermans also underlined, it is necessary to check whether all the European countries are ready, and according to what methods, to carry out this CO2 reduction. As Repubblica reports, in this regard, Chiara Martinelli of Climate Action Now Europe would have underlined: “The 2 point increase from 55% to 57% of the emission reduction commitment is very far from this 65% which is the amount on which the EU should commit to limiting the temperature globally to 1.5°C”. Furthermore, the central theme of COP27 remains the commitment of rich countries to compensate the most vulnerable and affected by the climate crisis. Indeed, the Egyptian presidency wanted the Sharm-el-Sheikh event to also talk about loss and damage (loss and damage linked to the climate).

European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans @Credits Ansa

Unfortunately, just a few hours after the end of the negotiations, it seems that many questions remain unanswered. According to the Vice-President of the Commission, European countries would not be divided according to loss and damage, which would make it impossible to reach an agreement. Meanwhile, the role of the United States has been strengthened following President Joe Biden’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bali for the G20. The dialogue between the two superpowers placed the American special envoy John Kerry in the center of attention during the COP27. The latter indeed met several delegations during these hours, including the Italian one in the person of the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto.

Pichetto: Italy towards ecological transition

As Minister Picetto revealed, John Kerry would have asked for an inventory of the gas situation in Italy. “With Kerry, I represented the beauty of Italy – Gilberto Pichetto said later – with its ancient villages. And therefore the difficulty of finding the balance between cultural beauties and new energies”. But having found a point of balance, our country will be ready. And, in this regard, the Italian Minister made a point of recalling the doubling of the members of the Via/VAS Commission, for the green light for wind and photovoltaic power plants. In the dialogue with John Kerry, on which Gilberto Pichetto did not want to say too much, there was also talk of gas and Italy’s position on loss and damage. La Repubblica further reports: “Our position, which I saw appreciated by Kerry , is the one I expressed yesterday with 27 EU ministers: a path made up of a sum of interventions, to be shared”.

The Minister of Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto @Credits Ansa

In the meantime, the Egyptian presidency has already circulated a first draft of the final document. This is, for the moment, a list of themes rather than solutions. Among these, as always, the commitment to renewable energies and the reduction of global warming to 1.5°C. The project, submitted to the delegations, was created to start moving towards the agreements and work out the final negotiation. Finally, the issue of fossil fuels resurfaces. In this context, India, which had been granted the use of phasing down instead of phasing out by COP26, requested that the outcome document also explicitly state the phasing out of all fossil fuels (gas and including oil). Frans Timmermans responded positively to this request, on the sole condition that the points obtained in Glasgow are not withdrawn.