One historic win for humankind, one step backwards as Cop27 ends
Developing nations broke a decades-long deadlock on loss and damage funding but no reference was made to the phasing out of all fossil fuels in the final text at Cop27
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Monday, November 21, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: defence minister visits Ukraine; Winston Peter rules out working with Labour; New Zealand’s hyper-ageing cities and towns; but first, loss and damage fund a win but no real progress on cutting emissions at Cop27
No real progress was made on cutting emissions at Cop27 (Image: Tina Tiller)
Loss and damage fund agreed to
With Cop27 wrapping up, delegates from nearly 200 counties gathered at 4am yesterday (local time in Egypt) and agreed to set up a loss and damage fund to compensate nations that are victims of extreme weather worsened by rich countries’ carbon pollution. Applause broke out as Cop president Sameh Shoukry brought the gavel down on the document which represented the consensus. As the BBC’s Matt McGrath writes in a useful summary of the climate talks, Cop27 may have resulted in both the biggest win (loss and damage fund) since the Paris climate talks in 2015 and the biggest loss. The cover text (the final decisions) failed to include a reference to the phasing out of all fossil fuels, meaning no progress was made on cutting emissions. The Associated Press headlined the loss and damage fund as “calamity cash”.
“Some progress has been made but not at anything like the speed required”
Details of the loss and damage funding are scant and will be worked out over the next year. In comments provided by the Science Media Centre, Adrian Macey from the New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute said “At least another year will be needed to make the new 'funding arrangements' (note a fully stand-alone fund was a bridge too far) operational. Expect much more of the same fraught discussions”. Climate change minister James Shaw said the fund was a bright spot, acknowledging more could be done but that “activists from poorer countries have been pushing for something like this for years and it should be acknowledged as a significant step forward.” Overall Shaw described this COP as “much like any other, in that some progress has been made but not at anything like the speed required.”
How much should New Zealand contribute?
It’s hard to say how much contributing to a loss and damage fund will cost New Zealand. Newsroom's Marc Daalder has done a back-of-the-envelope fairness calculation. “New Zealand considers its annual $325m climate finance spend on mitigation and adaptation a fair contribution to the global US$100b climate finance goal announced in 2009 in Copenhagen. Loss and damage in developing countries by 2030 is likely to total at least US$300 billion. A fair share contribution to covering that cost would imply close to $1b annually from New Zealand.”
Pacific nations flex their power
Sometimes developed nations paying their fair share is framed as benevolence. The idea of loss and damage funding was first put on the agenda by Vanuatu three decades ago. Getting it over the line has been a concerted effort of lobbying and activism. And it continues. The Australian government launched a campaign at Cop27 to co-host the annual climate conference with Pacific neighbours in 2026. When Glasgow hosted the summit in 2019, it was estimated to be a £73m boost to the city's economy. Vanuatu’s new climate change minister, Ralph Regenvanu, said support for the bid from Pacific nations should be conditional on Australia ending new fossil fuel subsidies. As the utility of these climate talks continues to be questioned, you could argue they at least make a useful bargaining chip.
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Defence minister Peeni Henare visits Ukraine and Poland
Defence minister Peeni Henare has visited Ukraine and Poland, holding talks with his ministerial counterparts. During the talks, Henare reaffirmed New Zealand’s unwavering support for the Ukrainian defence against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion. While in Kyiv, Henare paid his respects to those who have lost their lives in the war at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine, and held bilateral talks with the Ukrainian minister of defence Oleksii Reznikov. Henare then travelled to Warsaw to meet with the Polish minister of defence Mariusz Błaszczak, where he expressed New Zealand’s condolences for the loss of life caused by last week’s missile strike in South-East Poland. 1News Europe correspondent Mei Heron details some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of covering Henare’s trip. Many aspects can’t be reported on for security reasons.
Winston Peters rules out working with Labour
For the first time since the introduction of MMP, the New Zealand First leader has emphatically ruled out working with a major party. In an interview with the Herald’s Audrey Young (paywalled), Peters said a lot of things, including: “No one gets to lie to me twice”, “We are not going to go with the Labour Party, this present Labour Party crowd, because they can’t be trusted” and “You don’t get a second time to lie to me, or my party, and they did”. Peters has hinted at coalition partner preferences in the past but never categorically ruled one out. Suffice to say this is a hypothetical situation. Recent polling has New Zealand First inching closer to the 5% threshold required to enter parliament, but none have the party over the line as yet.
New Zealand towns and cities are hyper-ageing
Great feature from Stuff’s Charlie Mitchell yesterday on New Zealand’s ageing population and the impact that is having, and will continue to have, on our towns and cities. As Mitchell writes: “Hyper-aged is an unusual term – and might even sound derogatory – but it’s a technical description for any population where the proportion of people aged-65+ is more than 20%.” In 2018, 18 territorial authorities (TAs) in New Zealand were hyper-aged. This year, there were 34. Projections suggest that by 2048, only three TAs will not be hyper-aged, and even they will be very close to it. I don’t think we talk enough about demographic changes and their impact, no matter how inevitable, perhaps because future-focused conversations don’t sync so well with three-year election cycles.
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Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.
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