COP, or Conference of the Parties, one of the world’s largest panels on sustainability and environmental actions, begins today. Now in its 27th iteration, the event kicks off at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt with many prominent world leaders attending. The agendas of this year’s COP are many—ranging from the need to tackle extreme weather to the unfulfilled climate pledges that need resolutions. As COP’s deliverables are recommendations that will affect the macroeconomy and policies of each country that attends the conference, all of them carry global business implications.
THE RE-PLEDGING OF THE $100 BILLION DEAL
At the COP15 in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009, wealthy countries pledged to “pay $100 billion annually” to developing countries to promulgate climate actions within 2020. Thus far, this commitment has not been fulfilled. Given this year’s unprecedentedly extreme weather pattern and natural disasters, experts have predicted that world leaders would take this issue more seriously. If more funds are allocated to the less-developed regions as the original pledge intended, businesses in the areas can expect more support and governmental cooperation in their developmental endeavor. These could come in the form of technology (smart factory and farming, etc.), mitigation (building irrigation systems in areas at risk of flooding), or education about environmental impacts. Businesses’ and governments’ cooperations can spearhead all these, given that more funding is received, and everything depends on the talk that will go on in the next few days in Egypt.
CARBON REFORM AND DEVELOPMENT
Keeping carbon low is the key to the 1.5 Celcius plan outlined by the Paris Agreement in 2015. To keep up with this plan, one of the key players this year will be Brazil. With 62% of the country covered with forest, Brazil is one of the critical pieces in the global carbon credit system. Carbon credit improvement plans can be expected this year in connection with the election of the new Brazillian president whose policy has climate agenda among the top priorities. The president aims to partner with other developing countries with rich forest lands to make carbon credit more transparent and increase the scale and scope of carbon offsetting by allocating more areas for reforestation. Apart from that, this year’s COP contains various discussions on promoting carbon reduction technology, such as carbon capturing and low-carbon machinery. With all these, businesses could expect more opportunities to invest in a more trustworthy and accountable carbon credit as well as more acceptance and even funding for low-carbon technology.
FOOD AND WATER
COP27 devotes considerable time slots to food and water security. With this year’s unprecedented geopolitical developments and severe climate eroding people’s access to these two essential resources at an alarming level, mitigating actions can be expected from the forum. At COP27’s Food Systems Pavilion, talks will be held on increasing finance toward food security, empowering the local community to be self-sufficient, and combatting climate effects on food production and water accessibility. It would be beneficial for companies to keep a watchful eye on this as it could engender the creation of more Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to solve the issue. Businesses could expect more funding, support from the government, and international cooperation in their actions to help uplift the lives of communities most affected by food and water insecurity.
COP27 starts now and will last until November 18. There are many areas to follow as the conference unfolds and ideas are shared. Therefore, businesses wishing to make a difference and transform themselves from Good to GREAT will benefit from keeping tabs on these three key discussions.
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