by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department

It has been 30 years since the Rio Climate Summit, when a global system was set up to bring countries together on a regular basis to try to solve the climate crisis. On Nov 6th the COP27 meeting in Egypt starts. Usually we wait with bated breath as to what the ‘great and the good’ pledge on behalf of their countries and how this will reduce the warming of the world to a level at which we as a species can continue to survive on this beautiful planet we call home. Alok Sharma, the President of COP26, summed up the agreement a year ago as one that was “on life support”. He wrote (here) “The 1.5°C limit lives. We brought it back from the brink. But its pulse remains weak.” Bringing back from the brink is a good description as just before the end of COP26 brinkmanship was taken to a new level when China and India both refused to sign the agreed text pledging to ‘phase out’ coal, instead insisting at the last moment that it be changed to ‘phase down’.