COP27 must put people at heart of its agenda: Sherry Rehman

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman has asserted that the people and their lives, particularly vulnerable communities, must be at the heart of COP27, along with the will to put them back on their feet.

“People and their lives, particularly vulnerable communities, must be at the heart of COP27, along with the will to put them back on their feet as they face the accelerated impacts of climate stress. The Loss and Damage agenda must be taken forward with clear political will,” she said in a statement.

The climate minister further said, “The COP27 has been advertised as the ‘Implementation COP’ and often billed as one that will put Adaptation at its core, but while we seek to find common ground on shared challenges including a commitment to announced pledges and NDCs, we are yet to see the momentum to move forward on the business of saving ourselves from the uncertain post 1.5C degree future.”

Sherry Rehman was speaking at the high-level Loss and Damage plenary, where she said that the Global South has high expectations for the creation and announcement of a Loss & Damage Facility from this COP.

“We are still committed to all the goals of this COP despite emitting less than 1% GHG globally, but we have expectations from the members of the UNFCCC,” she added.

The Minister also highlighted that vulnerable countries under extreme public debt cannot be left alone to deal with the impact of climate change, and the global financial system must be rewired to address these new existential challenges.

“We are also told that until 2030, the cost of surviving the impacts of loss and damage – which our emissions haven’t caused – is going to cost us US$348bn,” she noted.

She said, “I understand that no country has that kind of resources to unlock, but Pakistan shouldn’t be told to go to private investments and make attractive business plans; that’s not going to be enough

“There must be a transformational decision here, especially about the political and financial system, and how it will serve the countries that are extremely indebted. We need to talk about how we can stay alive, and about what commitments come out of this COP27,” she concluded.

Sherry Rehman also visited the European Union Pavilion on their invitation to meet with the delegation of EU Parliamentarians and share Pakistan’s concerns.

The Pakistan Pavilion also hosted ARUP, a global engineering company, which generated discussions on sustainable rebuilding for critical infrastructure lost through the floods this summer. Other panels focused on gendering recovery from climate trauma as well as Pakistan’s energy transition plans.