[co-author: Kerry Mackenzie]

Talks during the ninth day of COP 27 focused on youth, biodiversity, coastal zones and transport. Here’s what business leaders need to know to keep up-to-date on climate policy:

• Green groups are disappointed by the standstill of action at COP 27, pointing to the commitments made by leaders at the Group of 20 (G20) to demonstrate the climate proceedings can still proceed despite the global conflict.
• Russian diplomats are being sidelined at both COP 27 and G20 talks after a recent mishap with Poland. Leaders from the majority of countries have refused to speak to or be photographed with the Russian envoy, and many have made speeches condemning Russian aggression towards Ukraine and the global increase of fossil fuel usage linked to the conflict.
• Japan announced that more than 60 countries, including the United States, have joined its Article Six Implementation Partnership, which is designed to educate signatories on carbon market best practices and technologies.
  • United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Simon Stiell thanked Japan for the initiative, saying, “the effective and swift implementation of Article Six throughout the global can be a game changer in our efforts against climate change.”
• The European Union (EU) and Egypt agreed to jointly develop and produce renewable hydrogen. The EU will assist Egypt in developing the necessary technology, infrastructure and skills needed to produce the energy, the majority of which it plans to import.
  • Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla said of the deal, “[it] reinforces the importance of collaboration between the different stakeholders to create synergies and bring expertise, resources, and well as technologies to develop solutions to confront climate change.”
• 17 countries committed to the 10-point Plan for Financing Biodiversity, pledging to increase financing for parks, protected areas, watershed management, reforestation, forest management, wildlife care, rewilding ecosystems, combatting invasive species, ensuring sustainable supply chains and other actions that will preserve biodiversity.
  • Implementation of the plan will be discussed at the upcoming 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal from December 7 to December 15.