The Lid is On

COP27 officially ended on Friday, but no agreement was reached when Conor and Laura recorded their last podcast in Sharm El-Sheikh.

But, despite the gloomy predictions of no deal, the COP27 outcome document was finally agreed, on Sunday morning.

Back home in New York after a 25-hour journey, Conor goes solo, to pull together a final COP episode of The Lid Is On. You can find all the details on the outcome document here.

Music: Within the Earth, Ketsa

Music: Within the Earth, Ketsa

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is back in Sharm El-Sheikh, in an attempt to nudge countries towards resolving their differences on contentious climate issues, and reaching an acceptable outcome to COP27. He boiled down the topics to three main areas: loss and damage, the emissions gap, and climate finance.

Conor and Laura were on hand in Egypt to make sense of the negotiations, and the reaction from activists and representatives of some of the countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis.

With just a couple of days to go at COP27, agreement on an agreed text – committing countries to move forward on measures to tackle the climate crisis – seems a long way off.

On today’s episode of The Lid Is On, Laura and Conor pick over some of the main areas of contention, and report on the highlights from Biodiversity Day.

Guests include the British singer Ellie Goulding, who is calling for improved coral reef protection, and the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, who is preparing the ground for a major UN biodiversity conference in December.

The UN is leading calls for an end to fossil fuel use, but lobbying for gas has been a feature of this African COP, and there have been warnings that new gas and other fossil fuel projects are underway in many developing countries.

On Energy Day, there were stark reminders of the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also signs that the world is moving in the right direction when it comes to renewable energy.

Conor and Laura sniff out the gas story, and speak to energy experts about the prospects for a clean energy future, based on renewable energy sources.

The second half of COP27 has begun and there’s uncertainty in the air regarding the progress of negotiations in the packed conference venue. 

Monday saw a focus on two main themes: water and gender. UN officials were at COP to prepare the ground and raise awareness for a major conference on water, due to take place next year, whilst senior leaders pointed out the inadequate representation of women in the climate action space.

Saturday is a working day at COP, allowing negotiators just one day to catch their breath, before the really hard work of hammering out some kind of outcome document begins on Monday.

The theme of the day is agriculture and adaptation. We hear from the UN agencies that focus on agriculture (FAO and IFAD), and Conor and Laura explore options for sustainable diets. Beans and bugs are on the menu!

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Music: Within the Earth, Ketsa

COPs are a marathon, not a sprint. During the first week, country negotiators set the parameters for the serious, and often exhausting, horse-trading that begins next week, when ministers fly in, with the aim of hammering out a consensus agreement by the end of the conference. On today’s show, Laura and Conor speak to Selwin Hart, the UN Secretary-General’s special advisor on climate, and Rueanna Haynes, a climate negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), about the progress made so far; and Conor sits down with Lily Cole, model, environmental activist and advisor to the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), on how to bring the huge environmental cost of the fashion industry under control. Music: Within the Earth, Ketsa

On Thursday, day four of COP27, the 2022 “10 Insights in Climate Science Report" was released, and the leading scientists involved declared that the world cannot adapt its way out of the climate crisis: emissions must be cut as a matter of urgency.

Conor and Laura discuss the report, and speak to climate activists and leading scientists on today’s show: one thing the two groups have in common is a focus on greenwashing, and compensating developing countries for the damage the crisis is inflicting on their economies and peoples.

The world leaders who congregated in Sharm El Sheik for the first two days of COP27 have left and, whilst the climate negotiators get to work, the thematic days of the conference have begun.

Wednesday was finance day, with a host of side events around the pavilions discussing the often thorny issues surrounding climate finance. It was also the day that former US Vice-President Al Gore launched a project to provide accurate, granular emissions date, and revealed that, in many cases, emissions are much higher than previously reported.