Adaptation was the big theme of discussions at the COP27 leaders’ summit yesterday. Day three of COP27 saw speakers and organizers hone in on the need for meaningful measures on adaptation and more climate finance for communities vulnerable to climate change.

The highlights:

• Adaptation agenda unveiled: The COP27 Presidency took the lid off an ambitious new agenda that aims to mobilize USD 140-300 bn in public and private sector funding for adaptation and resilience by 2030.
• Calls for adaptation-focused investment: Bold-name speakers — including US climate envoy John Kerry, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman — called for more adaptation-focused investment.
• More discussions of adaptation: Two of the three high-level roundtable discussions held — water security (pdf) and climate change and the sustainability of vulnerable communities (pdf) — were strongly adaptation-themed.
• The pool of financing earmarked by rich nations for loss and damage grows — kinda. Austria became the fifth country to commit to loss and damage financing, following pledges from Germany and Belgium on Monday. (More on that in our next story, below.)

In terms of catchy COP27 soundbites, von der Leyen trails behind Guterres: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s call for accelerated action on climate change yesterday was (let’s be honest) nowhere near as catchy as the call by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres — who spoke of the world being on the “highway to hell” — the day before. “The global fossil fuel crisis must be a game changer. So let us not take the ‘highway to hell’ but let's earn the clean ticket to heaven,” von der Leyen told the summit (watch, runtime: 4:15).

ADAPTATION ROADMAP-

The COP27 Presidency yesterday launched the Sharm El Sheikh Adaptation Agenda (pdf) for collective adaptation action, in partnership with the UN climate change high-level champions, it announced in a statement (pdf). The agenda is a clear bid to zoom in on the need to provide adaptation support to climate change-ravaged communities. It is the “first comprehensive global plan to rally both State and non-State actors behind a shared set of adaptation actions that are required by the end of this decade,” the statement notes.

The ultimate goal? Protecting “climate vulnerable” communities from “rising climate hazards, such as extreme heat, drought, flooding, or extreme weather,” according to the statement. It identifies 30 adaptation outcomes designed to increase resilience by 2030 — targeting some 4 bn people, the statement tells us.

How will it do this? By putting forward “global solutions” — presumably, the action points of each of the 30 adaptation outcomes — that can be tailored to the needs of local communities. These focus on food and agriculture, water and nature, coasts and oceans, human settlements, and infrastructure — and include proposed action for the all-important areas of planning and finance, the statement notes.

Some key 2030 targets:

• Mobilizing USD 140-300 bn from the public and private sectors for adaptation and resilience. Providing at least USD 10 bn per year in “innovative finance” to increase access to clean cooking for 2.4 bn people.
• Protecting 3 bn people through “smart and early warning systems.”
• Increasing agriculture yields by 17% and reducing farm-level greenhouse gas emissions by 21%, through a shift to “climate resilient, sustainable agriculture.”
• Preservation of land… Protection and restoration of an estimated 400 mn hectares of “critical” land and freshwater ecosystems.
• …and mangroves: Channeling USD 4 bn into protection of 15 mn hectares of mangroves.

DECARBONIZATION-

Remove trade barriers for low-carbon tech, says WTO: The World Trade Organization needs to tackle trade barriers impeeding the sharing and use of low-carbon technology, as part of overall decarbonization efforts, according to a report (pdf) it published on Monday, with Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala echoing the message in a Reuters interview. Tariffs for low-carbon industries are often higher than carbon-intensive ones, the report notes. Eliminating such barriers could boost global exports in clean tech — like solar panels or smart heating controls — by 5% by 2030, it adds.

Okonjo-Iweala wants to revive negotiations on a global environmental trade agreement, which stalled in 2016, she told Reuters. WTO discussions on how to use trade mechanisms to promote emissions reduction should also include services — like air pollution mitigation and wastewater treatment — she added.

OTHER PLEDGES-

Kuwait aims to be net-zero by 2060: Kuwait is making “a solid, serious pledge” to achieve carbon neutrality in its oil and gas sector by 2050 and in the whole country by 2060, Foreign Minister Salem Al Sabah told state news outlet KUNA on Monday.

Standard Chartered, African countries seek to “dramatically expand” use of carbon credits in Africa: A group of African countries, along with Standard Chartered, are backing an initiative that would see 300 mn carbon credits produced on the continent annually by 2030, and 1.5 bn by 2050, Bloomberg noted. The countries involved include Kenya, Malawi, Gabon, Nigeria and Togo.

Norway goes big on shipping emissions reduction targets: Norway is aiming to slash its shipping emissions by 50% by 2030, adding new detail on Monday to the “Green Shipping Challenge” agreement it signed with the US in May this year, maritime news outlet Rivera News reported. Norway also joined the Clean Energy Marine Hubs (CEM-Hubs) — a global green maritime fuel initiative of which only the UAE, US and Canada were previously members, after it launched earlier this year — along with Panama and Uruguay, the news outlet added.

OTHER COP NEWS-

The renewable energy sector is poised for huge growth as it emerges as a solution to both climate change and energy security risks, former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney told Bloomberg TV in an interview yesterday (watch, runtime: 10:23).

Apple and PepsiCo have joined the ranks of a corporate buyers club that’s committed USD 12 bn to purchase low-carbon steel and aluminum, among other products — all in the hope of “greenifying” supply chains, Bloomberg reports.

Corporate climate pledges slammed by UN group: 17 UN experts appointed by the UN’s Guterres at COP26 to “review the integrity of non-state net-zero commitments” have concluded that net-zero emissions pledges by companies, banks and cities are “rife with greenwashing,” in a report (pdf) released yesterday. “Too many of these net-zero pledges are little more than empty slogans and hype,” group chair Catherine McKenna said at a presser, according to Reuters.