Prior to this morning’s opening, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in interview early this morning, discussing the loss and damage issue, which the interviewer hinted was a liability related to colonization. Johnson’s response focused on support for developing countries. However, the most important take-away was his point that governments can do a limited amount, that a much larger portion of the funds being sought (for any purpose) must come from the private sector and international lending. He provided the example of the UK government, which has a strike point of intervention in the cost of construction wind power resources. Based on that set point, the private sector stepped in to fund and drive construction. Johnson was also clear that Putin’s invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine remained evil and unacceptable and that the world should not bow to Putin’s energy blackmail as winter approaches.
The conference pre-event that occurred this morning was a roundtable among African leaders to agree upon the priorities set by African states.
If you’re interested in examining the pre-session documents, they can be downloaded here.
U.N. Secretary General Guterres opened the conference. He set the tone quickly. During the conference, the 8th billionth citizen will be born. He established that milestone as a reference point. From there, he called the climate the defining issue of our age. He pointed out that the invasion of Ukraine has “exposed the profound risk of our fossil fuel addiction.” However, he provided the soundbite that will likely identify COP27: “We are on the highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.”