«Human psychology does not help to recognize climate change»

“There are commitments from the Paris agreement that were meant to happen and they finally ended in Glasgow, so now we start a new phase. At the COP27 in Egypt there must be a collective discussion about this necessary transformation and we must all move together to do it during this decade.” With these words, Youssef Nassef, director of adaptation work at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, defines the great objective of the next COP27 conference: greater group awareness.

“Unfortunately -continues the expert in an interview with this media- last year we measured the level of greenhouse gas emissions and it was above 2010, by 14%. Science tells us it should be down from 2010 by 45%.”

With these data, experts demand much more commitment from the different countries of the world to be on the right track. “Ambition at the country level is not enough,” says Nassef.

This collective ambition must also pass, according to Nassef, who has participated in the International Climate Action Congress 2022, organized by the Fundación Empresa y Clima, to provide support to the most vulnerable. “There is a commitment to have at least one hundred billion dollars a year for these groups.”

Although that figure has not yet been reached, this official also calls for “more work to help poor communities adapt to the impacts of climate change”, especially in those countries at risk of total extinction, as is the case in some areas of the Pacific. . “In other places people would die much more from floods, hurricanes and droughts, so making sure there is enough support to help them is a big priority,” he says.

Scientific endorsement and difficulties

This expert also recalls that the goal of zero carbon emissions by 2050 is backed by science, which ensures that, if this challenge is met, we will be able to lower the planet’s temperature by 1.5 degrees by 2100.

But, as things stand, to achieve this, countries would have to make commitments that would lead us to achieve a 45% reduction in emissions by 2030. “Each year that passes without improving the commitments makes it more difficult to reach the goal and makes that the effort be greater in the future generation. Between 2030 and 2050 people will suffer more if we don’t act now,” says the United Nations specialist.

According to his vision, the problem is human nature, which does not fully believe this climate change. “Every day you get up and see the sun just like the day before,” he explains, “which leads many people to question whether they have to do something. But one day you will wake up and find that you are drowning because there is a flood. Climate change is a very complex issue and human psychology does not help to recognize it.

Although he regrets that climate change is not seen with the same priority as Covid, he assures that there is increasing pressure to tackle the problem. “It’s starting to be too late to address this problem at a reasonable cost, so someone is going to have to incur a much higher cost if we don’t bend that curve sooner rather than later,” he warns.

He considers, on the other hand, that luckily the younger generations are pressing hard to change our habits and believes that we must trust in science and technology as tools to fight climate change.

Artificial intelligence, Big Data, satellites, the Internet of Things or biotechnology can help transform and do so in many different ways, including very precise risk management and a very rapid response to disasters when they occur or in the future. understanding how nature works.

“New technologies will be essential to move us in the right direction,” he says. In addition, he is also confident that companies are increasingly aware of the need to move in this direction, “not only because they want to, but because it is a factor that could affect their profitability.”

A COP27 focused on Africa

This expert anticipates that a large part of the COP27 agenda will be focused on the priorities that Africa has, especially on issues of financing and adaptation. Youssef Nassef explains that Africa has two major problems related to the fight against climate change. On the one hand, exposure to impact. “They suffer many floods and many droughts, sometimes in the same country,” he explains.

On the other hand, these same countries do not have the capacity to deal with these emergencies, so in Africa, when there is a drought or a flood of the same magnitude as in a rich country, “it affects their GDP for a long time and can more people die.

For this reason, the organization has placed special interest in having “more conversations about the transformation that we have to make of our social and economic systems in order to survive in the next decade,” it advances.

Aware that “governments respond to the will of the people”, he considers that “we need a critical mass of support from civil society and the media to push governments towards these changes. I think we’re very close to that in many countries, and it’s up to governments to make these promises to the United Nations through what we call nationally determined contributions.”

Commitments that, in order to be fulfilled, require the collaboration of all kinds of interested parties, including the corporate sector, the business sector, as well as the different constituencies and civil society.