Bringing Inclusive Climate Action to COP27

Posted on: Thursday, November 3rd, 2022

CBM UK and CBM Global will be joining Disability Movement and civil society partners at COP27, the UN Climate Conference, to ensure that disability inclusion is not overlooked.

People with disabilities, especially those living in poverty, are among those hardest hit by the climate crisis and must be meaningfully included in responses to it.

COP27, which stands for “Conference of the Parties”, is the 27th annual United Nations meeting on climate and will be held in Egypt from 6 to 18 November 2022. In this summit, governments convene to agree on steps to limit global temperature rises and prevent the climate crisis from causing even greater damage to the world’s most marginalised people.

CBM UK’s Chief Executive Kirsty Smith and Mark Barrell, Head of Advocacy will attend COP27 alongside Tushar Wali, Senior Advisor Disaster Risk Reduction from CBM Global. They will work closely with Disability Movement partners and join wider civil society discussion to promote and offer practical suggestions for how climate adaptation, loss and damage and resilience can be more inclusive.

Kirsty Smith said:

“Building on our strong presence in Glasgow last year, I’m delighted that CBM UK will be at COP27 in Egypt to work alongside our partners and allies for inclusive climate justice. Together we will seek to influence the UK government and others from across the globe to include people with disabilities and their representative organisations in all areas of climate action.

It is vital that the experience and understanding of people with disabilities who are impacted daily by the worst effects of climate change are listened to and their contribution acted upon. CBM UK seeks to promote their contribution as technical experts and active decision makers having the knowledge to offer practical and appropriate solutions in their own context.

With climate related disasters set to increase in frequency and severity, the input of those most likely to bear the brunt is crucial if we are to meaningfully progress climate justice and the implementation of the Glasgow Pact agreements.”

Disability and the Climate Crisis

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2022) highlights that approximately 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to climate change. People with disabilities are the largest global minority, numbering 1 billion. There is currently no reliable data on how many are living at the front line of the climate crisis, but indications point to a significant number of people with disabilities impacted by climate change.

Missing in Climate Action: Stories of persons with disabilities from the Global South

On 10 November, we will launch our latest research “Missing in Climate Action: Stories of persons with disabilities from the Global South”. This research aims to amplify the voices of people with disabilities and their own experiences of climate change and action.

You can hear more about the research at a side event, co-led by CBM UK, ‘From Exclusion to Leadership: People with Disabilities Develop an Agenda for Inclusive Climate Action’.