True success at COP27 means addressing climate justice — here's how to do it

This year’s Conference of the Parties (COP), in Egypt, will be pivotal. Last year, in Glasgow, countries committed to more climate financing and raised their goals, but fell short of the required national commitments to limit warming globally to 1.5⁰ C.

COP27 is an opportunity to remedy that problem, but also to ensure that the issue of climate justice is tackled effectively — without climate justice, more funding and loftier promises by world leaders will be meaningless.

With the previous conference in Glasgow deemed a moderate success, with some countries committing more to climate finance and raising their goals, the conference in Egypt has a unique opportunity to take a much-needed leap towards effective climate action.

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed 150 million people into extreme poverty. By 2030, climate change is expected to push an additional 132 million into extreme poverty.

As in the case of any global crisis, the people most affected by climate change will be women and children, especially girls, and this will be exacerbated if they are from marginalized communities. They are more likely to be exposed to poverty, loss of livelihood and malnutrition.

It is imperative, therefore, that the pursuit of sustainable development, effective climate action and an inclusive future, embodied by the annual COP meetings, keeps climate justice, for women, children and those from marginalized communities, at the heart of its discussions.

Climate justice is not just the right thing to do — empowering marginalized people and communities and improving their resilience will improve overall climate resilience and bolster all climate action.

Substantial evidence points to the fact that not only do women make more effective climate leaders, but also that achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5 on Gender Equality can in fact be an accelerator to the achievement of the other 16 SDGs. The Forum’s Global Shapers Gurugram Hub has examined these interlinkages.

There are three ways COP delegates can ensure they are addressing climate justice.

Women, children — and particularly girls — as well as those from marginalized communities need to become primary beneficiaries of climate financing. This is particularly important for the global south, which may not be able to contribute as much as developed countries towards climate finance. The tenets of climate justice dictate that historically high-emitting developed nations should bear the major brunt of climate financing, to build climate resiliency for those most likely to be affected in developing nations. Cumulative emissions should be considered, not only current emission rates.

Women and marginalized communities must be adequately represented in decision-making during COP27. COP26 was infamous for being heavily skewed towards male representation. This effectively reduced the agency of women and marginalized communities, preventing them from advocating for their own rights and needs, and for telling delegates how best they can improve their own resilience.

Programmes focused on increasing climate resiliency for those at the receiving end of climate injustice must be the primary target of climate finance, rather than large corporations. 90% of climate finance has historically been used for mitigation, going to large corporates who already have avenues for getting funds, while the amount spent on ensuring climate justice and resiliency is negligible in comparison.

COP27 and its delegates must not only acknowledge that issues of people and society like gender inequality, poverty and health are not peripheral issues of sustainability, but that they are the human face of the climate crisis.

Environmental issues like natural resource management, biodiversity and other planet-related elements in the discussions of COP27 are critical — but without society, equity and climate justice, the overarching objective of the conference will be lost. It will become a mere excuse for world leaders to put their own agendas at the forefront.

Effectively addressing the critical issue of climate justice at COP27 is of utmost importance. A failure to do so could plunge the world's most vulnerable people further into the economic and social despair caused by the pandemic, in danger of being exacerbated by climate change — unless at this year’s COP the world steps in, and makes sure that any efforts to counter climate change do not forget those most affected by it.