A COP-out on a #HealthyClimate?

It was fossil fuel industry lobbyists who were present in record numbers dwarfing every country delegation except one

Over 35,000 people – including more than 100 heads of state and governments – gathered in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in recent days to chart a way out of the world’s climate crisis. What did they achieve for climate and for health?

Sadly, delegates who argued that expanding oil and gas production is actually compatible with “net zero by 2050” succeeded in scuttling a proposed agreement to “phase down” all fossil fuels, putting the global warming 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement – and a healthy planet now – further out of reach.

Seen in this context, the gathering’s agreement to set up a fund to compensate developing countries for loss and damage caused by climate change will be sorely needed.

Known as the 27th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), the event came hard on the heels of two hard-hitting reports.

The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, launched on 27 October, found among 43 indicators that heat exposure is a growing threat to health and wellbeing. Between 2000 and 2004 and 2017 and 2021, there has been a 68 per cent increase in heat-related mortality worldwide among people over the age of 65.

Deaths of New Zealanders over 65 from heat exposure, although coming off a relatively low base, rose by an alarming 165 per cent.

Meanwhile the UN NDC Synthesis Report, released the same day, concluded the combined climate pledges of 193 parties under the Paris Agreement add up to global warming this century by a full degree more than the critical 1.5 °C limit.

COP26 in Glasgow last year provided a glimmer of hope, due in part to the record number of health professionals advocating on the sidelines for a #HealthyClimate.

This year, it was fossil fuel industry lobbyists who were present in record numbers – at least 636, according to Global Witness – dwarfing every country delegation except one. United Arab Emirates, the petro state assuming the presidency for COP28, sent by far the largest number – 1060 delegates, in all.

Extreme weather events around the world caused damage worth US$253 billion (NZ412.64 billion) last year, including damage to hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The 1-in-100-year floods in Nelson and on the West Coast that forced the evacuation of Buller Hospital in July are just a taste of what more vulnerable countries are increasingly experiencing.

New Zealand’s announcement of a $20 million contribution to the Loss and Damage Fund scored headlines for climate change minister James Shaw. But as health professionals, we need to look behind the headlines in our work for a healthy climate and healthy people.

As a member of the New Zealand Climate Action Network, OraTaiao was represented at COP27 by Rhiannon Mackie and Kera Sherwood O’Regan. We were also connected with rangatahi Māori delegates Kaeden Watts and Tiana Jakicevich from the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum.

Responding to Minister Shaw, Kaeden stressed that the $20 million is not new money. It’s money that’s been repurposed from funding commitments made at COP26 last year, he says.

“The actions from the New Zealand Government to put us forward as an international leader in climate change have been severely underwhelming.”

New Zealand was even named and shamed as “Fossil of the Day” on 15 November by our parent organisation, Climate Action Network International, for temporarily back-tracking on its commitments and seeking to delay the introduction of the Loss and Damage Fund.