Bonn climate conference kicks off, paving way for COP27 in Egypt

The Bonn Climate Change conference kicked off today in the German city of Bonn against a backdrop of accelerating climate impacts, including unusually intense sandstorms in the Middle East.

The conference will set the stage for the next United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), due to take place in the Red Sea coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in November.

"Climate change is not an agenda we can afford to push back on our global schedule. We need decisions and actions now and it is incumbent on all nations to make progress in Bonn," UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, Patricia Espinosa, said in a statement last week.

Experts from over 200 countries have gathered in Bonn to discuss topics at the agenda of COP27 -including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to climate impacts and providing financial support for the least wealthy nations. 

Arab nations are expected to play a key role at COP27, held in the heart of the Middle East - a region that is extremely vulnerable to climate change.

The severe sandstorms that swept across Iraq and Syria over the past weeks, driving thousands to hospitals, are expected to become more frequent and intense in the coming years due to climate change. Water scarcity, which is already a major issue in Iran, Syria, Iraq or Jordan, will only get worse as climate change drives down rainfall levels.

Commitments by oil-rich Gulf states, who are top carbon emitters worldwide, will likely come under heavy scrutiny at COP27. Scientists and environmental activists hope the upcoming conference will build on the progress made at COP26, held in Glasgow in late 2022, which finalised operational details of the Paris Agreement.

The Paris Agreement is an international treaty adopted in 2015 at COP21 in Paris, in which states agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius (preferably 1.5 C) by reducing their carbon emissions.