Grandiose negotiations

COP27 was a grand spectacle creating a sense of hyper-action while it actually was about reversing the little gains made till now

- SUNITA NARAIN

It is a sign of sheer desperation to say that the world has achieved “something” at the climate change conference of parties (COP27) that just ended in the coastal Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

The fact is COP27 should go down as the worst event in the history of the three-decade-long negotiations to find ways to mitigate emissions that are taking us to catastrophic damages.

This meeting was a grand spectacle—almost like a mirage in the desert. It created a sense of hyper-action, when it actually was about reversing the little gains made till now to combat this existential threat.

I was one of the 45,000odd people at this conference. What struck me was that it was actually designed to take the heat offthe negotiations.

The organisers—the UN’s climate change secretariat and our host, the Egyptian government—had set up hundreds of country and agency pavilions, each with small conference rooms where five to six events were held every day, each participated by 30-50 people.

There was so much going on through the day that negotiations, the real business of a COP, became a sideshow. It had little influence on what governments should have agreed upon.

So, do not be surprised when I say that the final decisions at COP27 were either no-decisions—all crucial texts remained heavily bracketed (UN language for when parties disagree) until they were finally agreed upon in the early morning of November 20—or, to put it mildly, regressive.