Just a few days after the close of climate Cop27, we can describe the outcome as a contrast of light and shadows. The establishment of a special fund for “loss and damage” in response to the devastating effects of climate-related disasters was a hard-fought-for silver lining.
However, the loss and damage we see now are only a foreshadowing of what is to come if we do not take the immediate and urgent action needed to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis. The omission of language in the Cop27 outcome on the need to phase out fossil fuels is of huge concern. We must cut emissions by 43 per cent before 2030, and achieve net zero by 2050, but the biggest emitters are failing to do what is needed to reach these critical milestones. If inertia on the climate crisis persists, we will see countries disappear from the map and others face increasingly extreme weather events. One of the gravest injustices of this crisis is that the majority of the communities most affected by the impact of climate change are those already living with a litany of other disadvantages.
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