Five takeaways on what COP27 means for the U.S.

The over-arching theme at this year's conference is that richer countries should do more to help poorer nations combat climate change.

by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech | Nov. 10, 2022

Steam rises from the coal-fired power plant with wind turbines nearby in Niederaussem, Germany, as the sun rises on Nov. 2, 2022. When world leaders, diplomats, campaigners and scientists descend on Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt for talks on tackling climate change, don’t expect them to part the Red Sea or perform other miracles that would make huge steps in curbing global warming. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)

Story at a glance

The United Nations annual climate conference is underway in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The conference is an annual gathering of leaders, activists and journalists to discuss how to address reducing humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions.

President Biden is scheduled to speak at COP27 on Friday.

Hundreds of heads of state, activists, business leaders and journalists are in Egypt right now attending this year’s United Nations climate summit, also referred to as COP27, to discuss how to curb the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions and stave off the worst effects of climate change.

The first few days of the summit have been filled with speeches from the world leaders, with the UN’s secretary general António Guterres stating the planet was “on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.”

“Our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible. We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator,” Guterres said. “It is the defining issue of our age. It is the central challenge of our century. It is unacceptable, outrageous and self-defeating to put it on the back burner.”

The conference began on Sunday, Nov. 6 and will end next Friday, Nov. 18. But so far there have been a few developments that directly impact the United States and more are expected with President Biden’s visit on Friday.

Here are five takeaways from COP27 that directly relate to the United States.

Global greenhouse gas emissions have been underreported

Former vice president and environmentalist Al Gore’s Climate TRACE coalition released a report at COP27 that found countries’ greenhouse gas emissions have been widely underreported.

The coalition’s data was gathered by over 300 satellites and is now available online to ensure the public can see which countries and companies have been under-reporting their emissions to the UN climate treaty organization.

The coalition found that oil and gas operations make up over half of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions globally and are about three times higher than what their producers claim.

And the United States was one of the top 10 oil and gas production and transport emitters last year along with China, Canada, Iran, Algeria, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

U.S. wants to raise money for poorer countries impacted by climate change

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry announced Wednesday a new plan to try and gather funds for developing countries to transition away from fossil fuels and adopt renewable sources of energy like solar and wind.

The initiative, dubbed the Energy Transition Accelerator, would involve selling carbon credits to companies interested in offsetting their emissions.

The U.S would develop the program in partnership with the Bezos Earth fund and the Rockefeller Foundation and big companies like PepsiCo, Bank of America and Microsoft have already expressed interest in the plan.

Kerry’s plan receives almost immediate criticism

Many at COP27 expressed skepticism over the potential positive impact of Kerry’s plan.

Carbon credits are a controversial tactic in the battle against climate change with many environmentalists arguing they are just “greenwashing.”

Instead, activists argue the plan will delay any real progress on decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and that corporations should focus on lowering their carbon pollution.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Egypt to everyone’s surprise

In a surprise visit to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Speaker Pelosi led a congressional delegation at COP27 and blamed Republicans for treating the climate crisis like it was “all a hoax.”

Pelosi urged Republican lawmakers to take climate change seriously as the party inches closer to taking over the U.S. House of Representatives.

U.S. and China resume climate talks

U.S. Envoy John Kerry said Wednesday that he met with Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua. The meeting marks a major development in U.S.-China relations since China paused climate talks with the U.S. in retaliation for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in early August.

Xie told reporters at COP27 the U.S. had “closed the door” to climate talks and that those doors needed to be reopened. He also suggested that China would support efforts to pay poorer countries for losses and damages caused by climate change.