Cop27: climate justice activists call for fossil fuel ‘criminals’ to be kicked out of conference – live | Cop27

Gloria Ocampo, Berta Caceres, Marielle Franco, Liliana Peña Chocué, Macarena Valdés, Amaya Morales – just a few of the thousands of murdered environmental and human rights defenders whose names were read at the biggest and most emotive protest at Cop27 so far.

A couple of hundred people gathered wearing white clothes in solidarity with the murdered and jailed defenders around the world who put their bodies on the line to save the planet, but whose voices are missing from Cop27 and the wider fight for climate and social justice. Each person’s name was followed by an emotive shout of “not yet defeated”.

The sobering name call was followed by half a minute of silence, after which speakers from the US, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa and occupied first nation land in what’s known as Canada, called out the UNFCCC and country states for pushing market driven solutions while denying frontline communities a seat at the table.

“Stop lying to the people. Move away from carbon credits and other false solutions,” said Siawatu-Salama Ra from Michigan. “It is not a crime to want affordable safe water or clean air to breathe.Free all prisoners, free them all, free him, free him,” she said, apparently referring to the Egyptian-British jailed hunger striker Alaa Abd el-Fattah whose fate is unknown.

Some of the biggest cheers came during the impassioned speech from 29-year-old Zukiswa White from South Africa, who connected dots between the wealth of the rich global north and the degradation and poverty of the global south. “We are still paying for their development, as if their countries were not built off of our backs. We don’t need to know how to take care and nurture our land from those who have destroyed and degraded our land, culture and heritage. That is why we are here at Cop27. If we keep moving in the logic of white supremacy and racist development projects, our kids will be here at Cop100.”

White read out a quote from Fikile Ntshangase, a South African activist who fought against a coal mine: “I refused to sign, I can not sell out my people. If need be, I will die for my people.” Fikile Ntshangase was murdered in 2020.

Israel, Lebanon and Iraq team up to tackle global heating

Damian Carrington

In a rare example of climate change concerns taking priority over political hostility, Israel, Lebanon and Iraq have agreed along with other nations to work together to tackle global heating, according to the New Arab website and other reports.

Israel is still officially at war with Lebanon and bans its citizens from having any contact with Israelis, while Israel and Iraq have no diplomatic relations due to a history of hostilities.

“The countries of the region share the warming and drying climate and just as they share the problems they can and must share the solutions. No country can stand alone in the face of the climate crisis,” said Tamar Zandberg, Israel’s outgoing environmental protection minister.

However, the office of Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati, played down any wider significance of the meeting at Cop27, saying it was attended by a large number of Arab and international officials: “There was no contact whatsoever with any Israeli official.”

The Haaretz newspaper said that, according to sources, this is the first high-level regional meeting on climate change that Israel is taking part in.

Israel and Jordan also signed a memorandum of understanding at Cop27 to move ahead with their water-for-energy deal, first announced a year ago. In the proposal, Jordan will build 600 megawatts of solar power capacity to export electricity to Israel in exchange for 200 million cubic meters of desalinated water.

Patrick Greenfield

The major breaking news story at Cop27 this morning is that water and fizzy drinks are now free and food is half price after delegates struggled to find enough to eat or drink in the first few days of the summit.

The move has been welcomed with cautious optimism by attendees in Egypt, who have previously complained that the limited food and drink is being sold at New York and London prices.

“Having been to these Cops for quite a time, good food is always a problem. If you don’t provide good food, you won’t get a good outcome,” said one lady in a queue.

“We are not really Coca-Cola drinkers but it’s the only choice. The water is still not so available. You can’t find it easily,” added an attendee who was enjoying a bottle of the fizzy drink after the rule change.

Another delegate was delighted by the price change, but feared supply issues would not improve. “I didn’t each lunch yesterday because the queues were too long and I wanted to get to my meetings. It’s not going to change in the next two days,” she said.

Though the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, hotfooted it back to England pretty swiftly after his underwhelming speech to the conference on Monday, there are still a handful of politicians knocking around.

Chris Skidmore, the UK’s net zero tsar, is speaking at six different events during Cop, and seems to be thoroughly enjoying his time in Sharm El-Sheikh.

He tells me:

I am delighted to be at Cop27 as part of the UK delegation and to speak about the net zero review and the progress we have made. So far the review has held 38 evidence roundtables and been taking evidence from across the UK – along with receiving over 1,800 written evidence submissions.

I’m keen to maintain the level of collaboration internationally, to demonstrate that the UK remains internationally leading in our climate policies and the review is a fantastic opportunity to establish new policies and frameworks that can ensure we can go further and faster on emissions reductions – and show other nations how they can deliver and implement their own net zero targets.

I will be speaking at the UK pavilion for several events and also addressing separately the Climate Leadership Summit, the UK corporate leaders group and a number of events on how to build collaboration and demonstrate the wider society benefits of what net zero can achieve for local communities.

Also at the conference is the business secretary, Grant Shapps, who has been snapped posing up a storm with other delegates in between fielding questions about how exactly the UK plans to be ‘world leading’ on climate while exploiting more north sea oil and gas against climate change committee recommendations.

I’m also told that Thérèse Coffey, the UK’s environment secretary, is heading down soon with her team to speak to the conference about nature-based solutions. Perhaps we will hear more about the plans for nature friendly farming payments – currently on ice – and how we can be world leaders on this issue when there are currently hundreds of environment laws at risk from being lost from the statute book due to Brexit.

As news broke of the 600+ fossil fuel lobbyists at this year’s summit, climate justice activists from Asia, Africa, and the Americas protested in the main courtyard in the blue zone demanding that the UNFCCC kick polluters out from Cop.

“We are here representing millions of people who are demanding that the polluters be kicked out of the Cop space and policy making. For more than half a century they kept the truth about the harms from the people. They delayed action because of greed. You can let the criminals set the rules, we have to reset the system. We are calling them out,” said Aderonke Lge from Public Participation Africa.

Nishant Kumar Alag from India added: “We call them polluters and violators, but we’re talking about criminals. We demand the right to clean water, air and land, and no safe haven for the criminals.”

As the delegates rushed past, heads down en route to another long day in the main negotiating rooms and event spaces, the protesters sang: “All we are saying is kick polluters out.” Lots of people are wearing white today in solidarity with the thousands of land and environmental defenders killed and criminalised around the world, and with the tens and thousands of political prisoners here in Egypt and around the world.

Exorbiant hotel and travel costs, visa delays and accreditation limits have made access to Cop27 incredibly challenging for activists and grassroots leaders including those from Africa – despite this being dubbed the African Cop.

Gina Cortes Valderrama from Colombia said lobbyists were everywhere while those on the frontline of the climate crisis cannot get access to Cop. “It’s a clear signal of what the colonial structures here value and prioritise.”

As US officials including John Kerry hold events at the climate justice pavilion – a space and term that activists say polluters and their allies are trying to co-opt, a host of protests and actions are planned in the blue zone.

A new analysis by the groups Global Witness, Corporate Europe Observatory and Corporate Accountability has calculated that 636 fossil fuel lobbyists are registered to attend Cop27.

This is up more than 25% from last year, and the number is larger than any single national delegation except the United Arab Emirates, they report.

The UAE, who will host Cop28 next year, have an astonishing 1,070 delegates in attendance, up from 176 last year.

We’ll have a story shortly, but in the meantime you can read the Global Witness report here.

Patrick Greenfield

What to look out for at Cop27 today

Good morning from a blustery Sharm El-Sheikh. Here is what to look out on youth day at Cop27:

• Nancy Pelosi will speak at the climate summit at around 11:15am London time in what might be one of her last appearances as House speaker in the US. It comes after a better than expected performance by the Democrats in the midterm elections, but it seems like they are on course to lose control of the House of Representatives.

• Several youth-led events will be held throughout the day, including intergenerational panels on loss and damage, mitigation and a just transition.

• Yesterday evening, the sister of the jailed hunger striker Alaa Abd el-Fattah was informed that a pro-government lawyer has filed a case against her with the Egyptian public prosecutor accusing her of espionage and “spreading false news” after she spoke earlier this week at Cop27, reported the Guardian’s Ruth Michaelson and Patrick Wintour.

• Activists are wearing white today at Cop27 in solidarity with murdered land defenders and political prisoners, with protests planned throughout the day.

• UK business secretary Grant Shapps is at the climate summit where he is likely to face questions about North sea oil and gas and onshore wind.