By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The United Nations (UN) climate change summit has opened in Egypt with a warning that our planet is “sending a distress signal”.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was responding to a UN report released on Sunday saying the past eight years were on track to be the warmest on record.
More than 120 world leaders are due to arrive at the summit known as COP27, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
This will kick off two weeks of negotiations between countries on climate action.
COP27 president, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, urged leaders to not let food and energy crises related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine get in the way of action on climate change.
“It is inherent on us all in Sharm el-Sheikh to demonstrate our recognition of the magnitude of the challenges we face and our steadfast resolve to overcome it.”
The need for action was laid bare in the latest report from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization.
Guterres sent a video message to the conference in which he called the the State of the Global Climate Report 2022 a “chronicle of climate chaos”.
In it, scientists estimate that global temperatures have now risen by 1.15C since pre-industrial times and said the latest eight years were on track to be the warmest on record.
The report also warned of the other wide-ranging impacts of climate change, including the acceleration of sea level rise, record glacier mass losses and record breaking heatwaves.
Guterres said that in light of these findings, COP27 must be the place for urgent and credible climate action.
COP27 will really begin in earnest on Monday with a World Leaders’ Summit, when heads of state and government leaders deliver five-minute addresses outlining what they want from the meeting.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will address world leaders and co-chair a high-level roundtable on a just energy transition during his visit to the make-or-break United Nations climate conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Ramaphosa unveiled the government’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan during a special sitting of the Presidential Climate Change Commission on Saturday.
This plan outlines the government’s priority investments, financing interventions, and de-carbonisation commitments as part of South Africa’s just transition.
South Africa plans to use $7.6 billion of the $8.5 billion climate-finance deal to upgrade electricity infrastructure. The rest of the money will be used for developing green-hydrogen projects and $200 million to support the electric-vehicle industry over the next five years.
His Excellency President @CyrilRamaphosa has departed for the Arab Republic of Egypt where he is participating in the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit on invitation of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt. #COP27 #TogetherForImplementation pic.twitter.com/rKbSlznpIo
— Presidency | South Africa ?? (@PresidencyZA) November 6, 2022
Ramaphosa will deliver a national statement during the high-level segment of the summit on Tuesday.
The Presidency statement said COP27 served as an opportunity to advance African priority issues, including recognition of Africa’s needs in the energy transition, adaptation and support to developing countries, financing arrangements for loss and damage, and building on the progress made in Glasgow on the importance of Just Transitions.