COP 27

UN Climate Change Conference Egypt 2022

What is COP27?

This is a global climate change summit, where world leaders will discuss and agree on the action required to tackle the climate emergency. COP stands for Conference of the Parties and this year marks the 27th COP summit - hence COP27 - and it's taking place 6-18 November in Egypt.

What do we want to see at COP27?

We cannot tackle climate change without restoring nature, and we cannot restore nature without tackling climate change - so we want to see action to restore nature championed at COP27.

A year on from COP26 in Glasgow, very little progress has been made. Climate breakdown is accelerating rapidly, observed impacts are worse than expected, and soon they will outpace our ability to limit and adapt to them.

In the UK alone, we’ve seen the following since COP26:

Temperatures over 40˚C recorded for the first time ever. Habitats became hostile places for wildlife, animals suffered heat stress and retreated wherever they could to shaded, wooded or damp areas. Swifts fell out of the sky, trees shed leaves, bumblebees were grounded.
Dangerous fires on heath, grassland and farmland. An area equal to 30,000 football pitches has been burnt so far this year. Some of our most precious habitats such as heathlands were destroyed; wildlife was unable to escape including Silver-studded Blue butterflies, Adders and the young of ground-nesting birds such as Nightjar.
Drought across much of the UK, with the driest July on record in south-east England. Rivers ran dry leaving dead fish and amphibians, and Grey Herons, Otters, Water Voles and Kingfishers struggling to find food. Ponds and lakes dried up, plants died and the subsequent lack of nectar affected insects.

It’s vital that the Prime Minister shows climate leadership by championing nature’s recovery at COP27

We must restore nature because natural habitats have a critical role to play in storing carbon and helping us adapt to the inevitable consequences of climate change. At the same time, climate change is one of the biggest threats to nature at a time when it is already in freefall globally; the latest assessment reveals we have lost 70% of our biodiversity since 1970.

The UK must do more than simply turn up to COP27. We need assurances that the government will rapidly increase efforts to restore nature and strengthen environmental protections at home. How can we expect other countries to prioritise nature in tackling climate change if we aren’t doing the same ourselves?