Reflections on COP27 with Climate Connect Digital
This year the annual climate conference of the UN, also known as the Conference of the Parties (COP) was held in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt. This was the 27th COP (COP27) where world leaders gathered to discuss the climate emergency.
For the uninitiated, our Earth is getting warmer by the day due to deforestation, and incessant use of fossil fuels which emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. As global warming continues, it threatens to drive humankind to the brink of a catastrophe. This is already evident in some parts of the world witnessing intense heatwaves, large forest fires and frequent floods. COP was created to find solutions to protect the Earth from this threat of climate change through the participation of countries.
A quick recap of COP26 held in Glasgow, Scotland last year called to restrict the global average temperature to 1.5 °C, by reducing existing emissions to half by 2030, and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. It pressed on concerted actions to build resilient infrastructure and defences, to avoid the loss of homes and livelihoods due to climate change. These actions include mobilisation of climate finance (at least $100 bn per year), and collaboration between governments and the private sector. However, the key outcome of COP26 was the finalisation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which lays down mechanisms and standards for international carbon markets.
At COP27, the focus was to build on the outcomes of COP26, and take action to tackle the climate emergency. Climate Connect Digital (CCD) sent its Head of Carbon Strategy, Dr. Mustafa Ali Khan , and Senior Climate Scientist, Dr. Ram Ratan to participate from 14-18 November 2022.
The underlying hot topics at COP27 were Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, digitization, collaboration among parties, and the dominant role of carbon markets and nature-based solutions to combat the climate crisis.
Several discussion points on Article 6 that were deferred during COP26 were taken up during COP27. One of these was establishing a ‘universal corresponding adjustment mechanism’ at the UNFCCC level to maintain traceability of carbon credits between various registries, including the national registries. CCD participated in a round table organized by Ernst & Young on Article 6, and will continue to engage in dialogue to contribute towards an effective implementation of Article 6.
The use of digital prowess in carbon markets is still at a very nascent stage. However, if deployed well, it holds the key to revolutionize the various tenets of carbon markets. For example, digital monitoring, reporting and verification (DMRV) can streamline the issuance process for carbon credits. The workflow for carbon projects, including the review of documentation by the carbon registries, is currently manual and can be automated by use of the natural language processing (NLP) subfield of machine learning (ML).
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In several discussions at COP27, it was observed that registries are opening up to the idea of blockchain enabled carbon credits and smart contracts.
Digitisation can also help to de-risk carbon assets. CCD released a white paper at COP27 detailing how rising temperatures and changing rainfall pattern are intensifying forest fires in the Indian subcontinent. Based on its findings, CCD has developed a tool for near real-time monitoring of forest fires in areas of interest and generating actionable alerts.
Scaling technology use for climate mitigation can be achieved faster through collaboration and cooperation between governments, non-profits, and the private sectors. But discussions at COP27 revealed that in the case of digitization, competition has outpaced collaboration, which does not augur well for the growth of the carbon ecosystem.
CCD is actively collaborating with multiple private and not-for-profit entities for GHG foot printing, remote sensing of natural resources and weather phenomena, meteorology for forecasting weather and climate modeling, as along with digital monitoring of carbon credit generating assets.
Another significant theme at the event was quality of carbon credits, which are important to uphold the environmental integrity and sanctity of the carbon markets. In this aspect, nature-based solutions (NBS) projects have gained traction as quality carbon removals with co-benefits to biodiversity and society. Leveraging its expertise in carbon advisory and digital solutions, CCD is partnering with various organizations to bring NBS projects to carbon markets.
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