Global leaders are preparing for the COP27 next month — to take action towards achieving collective climate goals set under Paris Agreement and the Convention. The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or ‘COP27’, will build on the outcomes of COP26 to deliver action on an array of issues critical to tackling the climate emergency. These are: urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions, building resilience and adapting to the inevitable impacts of climate change, and delivering on the commitments to finance climate action in developing countries. Also read: Dhaka calls for implementation of climate financing pledges ahead of COP27 Bangladesh will reiterate its call to materialize the pledge of providing US$ 100 billion funds per year to developing countries at the earliest, officials said. Bangladesh will also highlight the importance of “enhanced funds” for climate change mitigation and adaptation at the conference that will take place from November 6 to 18 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Nations are expected to demonstrate at COP27 that they are in a new era of implementation by turning their commitments under the Paris Agreement into action. Read V20, G7 reach agreement on financial protection against climate change loss Heads of states and governments will attend the Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit on November 7 and 8 while a high-level segment primarily attended by ministers will take place from November 15-18. The Vulnerable 20 (V20) and Group of 7 (G7) will jointly launch the Global Shield Against Climate Risks at COP27 in a wider effort to accelerate pre-arranged financing at speed and scale. The V20 membership stands at 58 economies representing some 1.5 billion people including Bangladesh. Read Climate Change: IOM DDG calls for redoubling efforts ahead of COP27 The Vulnerable 20 Group of Finance Ministers from climate vulnerable economies and the G7 Presidency have already announced they have reached agreement on a financial protection cooperation that responds to loss and damage as a contribution to the Paris Climate Treaty. Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has called for implementation of climate financing pledges commensurate with the principles of loss and damage ahead of the climate conference going to take place in Sharm El Sheikh next month. State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam has said Bangladesh firmly believes that climate change is a security issue and it must be discussed at a regular interval at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Read UN Resident Coordinator stresses urgency of fighting climate change Bangladesh has been a significant player in global climate diplomacy and during the presidency of CVF, Bangladesh emerged as a bold voice in the climate change negotiations under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Bangladesh has launched the “Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan” with the aim to put her on a journey from climate vulnerability to resilience to climate prosperity. The government sees it as one of the landmark policy guidelines for climate vulnerable countries. As government representatives begin to finalize the agenda for the COP27 climate change conference in Egypt next month, the UN chief told journalists in New York that the work ahead is “as immense as the climate impacts we are seeing around the world”. “At COP27, I will launch an action plan to provide early warning systems for all within five years,” said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. He urged the governments, international financial institutions and civil society to support it. Read Bangladeshi youths join Global Climate Strike “We came out of Paris, COP21, with a historic agreement which set out a framework of what needs to be done, and then in Glasgow last year, an agreement on how to do it,” said Simon Stiell, the sixth Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or UN Climate Change. 2022 marks seven years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change - a landmark international treaty to tackle the climate crisis.  The agreement calls for limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. To get there, the world needs to halve its carbon emissions by 2030. Read What can COP27 do for climate vulnerable countries?

As a result of continuous and rapid changes in climate, natural disasters - such as sea level rise, floods, droughts, river erosion, cyclones, and salinity - are becoming more extreme and destructive with time. It is affecting all the continents of the world. The impacts of climate change are causing loss of crops, and agricultural productions challenging the food security of the world today. In simple words, climate change is threatening the safety of life and property of people and animals around the world.  To fight these issues, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) comes in. This 27th edition of the climate conference known as COP27 will take place in November, 2022. Let’s focus on what COP27 can achieve for the climate change affected countries. What is COP27? ‘Cop’ means ‘Conference of the Parties. It is a United Nations initiative. In 1995, the first conference of COP was held in Berlin, Germany, which took place in a different country every year.  These conventions serve as the formal meeting of the UNFCCC (Conference of the Parties, COP) parties to discuss progress in attempting to alleviate the effects of climate change, and they began attending discussions beginning roughly in the mid-1990s. The conference also negotiated the Kyoto Protocol with an aim to establish legally binding obligations for developed countries to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions. Read Huge work ahead of COP27; commitments need to turn into action: Robert Dickson This year COP27 will take place at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6 to November 18. However, COP 27 was initially expected to occur from November 8-20, 2021. But, due to covid 19 pandemic, COP 26 was rescheduled from November 2020 to November 2021. That led to COP 27 from November 2021 to November 2022. As of 2019, 197 countries have become UNFCCC members. So, this year it is expected that all the member countries will meet with their valuable proposal for the sake of the environment. UNFCCC COP27 is going to be an important event regarding environmental pollution and climate change. The conference discusses the risks and solutions to climate change. This event is promising because it will help to create a consensus on how to prevent global climate change. Read Bangladesh-UK Partnership: Experts to discuss priority climate actions Friday What Should COP27 Achieve for the Vulnerable Countries? The COP conference should aim to provide a space for vulnerable countries to share their experiences, learn from each other, and create new ideas on how to prevent climate issues. This would help reduce the risk of another devastating conflict in the future. Mitigation COP26 was the very first test of the Paris Agreement’s goal-raising function for mitigating climate change. In other words, preventing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Yet it fell short of reaching its objectives. By the end of this century, if member states would implement all changes from the ‘nationally determined contributions or ‘NDCs,’ it would still be predicted that the world’s average temperature would rise by 2.4 degrees Celsius. The COP26 final outcome urges all the parties to increase their targets by 2030 to become compatible with NDCs by 2022. Therefore, COP27 is more significant than the previous COPs. So, COP27 should achieve a mitigation plan so that the vulnerable countries’ risk gets reduced in the long run. Read How Can One Person Reduce Environmental Pollution? Adaptation The COP26 urges the developed countries to double the adaptation financing along with the launch of a two-year work program towards the Global Goal Adaption (GGA). The GGA conducts international support to lessen the vulnerability of countries to climate change and adapt to the environment through holistic, sustainable development. Vulnerable countries have been seeking assistance for decades. And it is expected that COP27 will bring out a proper adaptation plan for the affected countries. Finance The COP26 summit was a major point of frustration and anger for many developing nations. In particular, they expressed frustration and anger at the failure to deliver on promises of regular financing to assist them in adaptation and mitigation efforts. There should be a move toward fulfilling historic pledges to provide annual climate financing of $100 billion from 2020 to 2025 every year, but those commitments are yet to be met. So, COP27 can be a milestone for vulnerable countries in getting their expected financing for mitigation and adaptation plans. Read Effects of Air Pollution on Unborn Children, Neonates, Infants Global Stocktake COP 27 will host a Technical Dialogue as part of the 2021-23 global stocktake (GST). The GST will assess progress towards fulfilling the Paris Agreement, happening every five years in sync with the ratchet mechanism. GST evaluates the progress made toward mitigation, adaptation, and preventive measures, assessing the mechanisms that help lessen climate change and its social effects. COP27 will be a crucial moment for scrutinizing the results of such deals. Hence, this can bring adequate outcomes for the susceptible countries. Compensation for Loss and Damage Loss of or damage to the environment refers to violations of the constraints of the natural environment that cannot be prevented by preventive measures or adaptation. Developing countries that are least responsible for climate change seek financial support for that irreparable loss and damages from the countries that are highly responsible for the climate crisis. So, COP27 should achieve compensation for the affected countries. Read E-Waste Crisis: Effects of Electronic Waste on Environment and Human Health Final Words The COP27 should make progress on agreement signings and declarations, which can help secure more financial support for vulnerable countries. The conference should provide them with new ideas on how to fight climate change, help them build resilience to climate shocks, and give them access to mitigation and adaptation plans. So far, we have discussed what COP27 should achieve for the climate vulnerable countries. Stay with us to know the updates of the COP27 conference in 2022.

Bangladesh and the United Kingdom are planning to sign a "climate accord" before COP26 and expressed optimism for a successful outcome of the COP26 with a possible CVF-COP26 event at Glasgow.    The two countries agreed to work together to put nature at the heart of their climate action, building on the 2020 Leaders’ Pledge for Nature and realising shared commitments towards conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as those under the Global Ocean Alliance and the Commonwealth Blue Charter. As founding members of the Adaptation Action Coalition, Bangladesh and the UK renewed their commitment to work together with other Coalition members to accelerate adaptation on the ground with a particular emphasis on promoting locally led climate action, according to a joint statement issued on Thursday. The two countries will do more to avert, minimise, and address Loss and Damage, said the joint statement on climate action between the two countries. Bangladesh and the UK will work together to get the network operating, following the UK-led Climate and Development Ministerial and drawing on the expertise in the UK, Bangladesh and internationally. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma met on Wednesday during the visit of COP26 President-designate to Bangladesh on June 2-4. Also read: COP26: Alok Sharma pledges support for Bangladesh towards clean energy transition They jointly reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing cooperation between Bangladesh and the United Kingdom in tackling climate change’s causes and adverse effects. They agreed to demonstrate sustained leadership to tackle the climate emergency bilaterally and globally. The two countries agreed to exchange expertise, share technology, facilitate partnerships, and identify practical solutions to common climate challenges.

The United Kingdom has commended Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s leadership of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) during the lead up to the UNFCCC COP26 scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow. British State Minister for Foreign Affairs for South Asia, the Commonwealth and the UN Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon recalled the leadership of Hasina during a recent virtual meeting with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam.   Lord Ahmad took interest in hearing about Bangladesh’s priorities for COP26, including in its capacity as the representative for the climate vulnerable countries. Also read: Bangladesh, US to work together to address challenges of climate change He underscored the importance of protecting the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest, from the adverse impacts of climate change. State Minister Alam briefed his UK counterpart about the recent visit to Bangladesh by the US Special Presidential Envoy on Climate John Kerry. He invited Lord Ahmad to visit Bangladesh during the Mujib Year, also in connection with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and the UK. Also read: Hasina's leadership to ‘amplify calls for decisive action’ on climate front The two State Ministers discussed the latest international travel restrictions imposed in the wake of the renewed spike in corona virus infections, especially from the South African variant. State Minister Alam urged the UK to take Bangladesh off the red list at the earliest based on factual evidence. The two State Ministers exchanged views on the situation of the Rohingya in Bangladesh. They discussed the current impasse over their voluntary repatriation to Myanmar and their partial relocation to Bhashan Char. Also read: Make no mistake; take action: Kerry on dealing with climate crisis together Lord Ahmad assured his Bangladesh counterpart of the UK’s continued support on the question of the Rohingya’s safe and dignified return to Myanmar. The two Ministers also discussed preparations for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) expected to be held physically in June 2021 in Kigali, Rwanda. At the outset, State Minister Alam expressed deep condolences at the demise of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and consort of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.

Bangladesh has joined as a member of the Steering Committee of the UN Group of Friends on climate adaptation and resilience.