November 23, 2022

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The 27th UN Climate Change Conference of the State Parties (COP 27), which began on November 6 in Sharm El-Sheikh resort in Egypt, ended on November 20 after reaching a historic agreement to set up a fund to compensate for “losses and damages” from floods, droughts, rising sea levels, and other climate change-related disasters which developing and island nations are suffering, though they have low carbon emissions. This issue came up for the first time in the annual climate negotiations.

In order to put a stop to the ongoing climate crisis, each country’s CO2 reduction target should be increased drastically. UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his address at the conclusion of COP27 said, “The world still needs a giant leap on climate ambition.”

Prior to the opening of the Sharm El-Sheikh climate change conference, the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) released its estimate that global CO2 emissions will rise by 10.6% by 2030 from 2010 levels. The UN Environment Programme warned that even if countries achieve their current CO2 reduction targets, the world’s average temperature could rise by 2.5C by the end of this century compared to the pre-Industrial Revolution level.

However, the two-week long conference failed to boost global efforts in this regard and only affirmed the previous conference’s stated goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5C above the pre-industrial levels by 2100. It also failed to reach an agreement on a gradual reduction of the use of fossil fuels as demanded by many nations.

Among COP27 participating countries, Japan stood out with its negative stance as shown by the non-appearance of Prime Minister Kishida. Japan’s Environment Minister Nishimura Akihiro in his speech to the conference said that Japan will not revise its current reduction target set under the Suga government to a higher one, and that Japan already decided on its long-term strategy and nationally determined contribution (NDC) which are aligned to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C temperature goal.

The Japanese government’s target of reducing CO2 emissions by 42% from the 2010 level is lower than the world’s average of 45%. Japan, as one of the world’s top five emitters, should increase its reduction target drastically.

Past related article:
> COP 27 climate discussions start in Egypt [November 9, 2022]