Discussions resulted in a last-minute agreement for developed countries to set up a fund to help developing countries recover from climate impacts. This commitment has been widely acknowledged as an important breakthrough in climate justice, although some remain sceptical about the agreement. Developing nations are still yet to receive the US$100 billion a year that was promised by wealthy nations in 2015.

Little change in global ambition on reducing emissions



Last year at COP26, nations reaffirmed their commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with a 1.5°C pathway. Despite many countries making net zero commitments, this has not yet resulted in global emission reductions and investment in fossil fuels looks set to continue.

Despite India pushing for more stringent fossil fuel reductions for all nations, the consensus on eliminating them remained frozen from negotiations in Glasgow a year earlier, where countries agreed to “phase down unabated coal power” and “eliminate inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”.

COP27 attracted extensive criticism as there were more oil and gas industry lobbyists in attendance than the combined number of delegates from the ten countries most affected by climate change. Many are therefore unsurprised that progress was not made in this area.

Greenhouse gas emissions reporting

The voluntary environmental disclosure system, CDP, took positive steps in making reporting more widely accessible to organisations by lowering their costs. CDP also announced that they will begin incorporating standards from the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) into their reporting framework. The ISSB Climate-related Disclosures Standard, which is expected to be released early next year, will require information on organisations’ scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions as well as carbon offsets. The UK Government plans to align mandatory climate reporting with the ISSB framework in an effort to encourage high quality private sector transition plans.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) released their new Net Zero Guidelines at the conference, providing companies with more comprehensive guidance on how to set and meet climate targets and avoid corporate greenwashing. The guidelines state that organisations must include short-term objectives on the way to their long-term targets and that net zero status can only be reached when “all possible actions” have been taken and only residual emissions remain. These hard-to-abate emissions must then be offset using high-quality, verified carbon removals.

What’s next?

Some may be disappointed with the outcomes of this year’s UN climate conference, but it is important to remember that global decarbonisation is a collaborative effort that we can all play our part in. Greenhouse gas emissions reporting is continuing to develop across different standards and frameworks, leading to more transparent and standardised environmental impact disclosures.

It can be difficult to keep up with the everchanging landscape of climate-related reporting, but our team of energy and sustainability experts can keep you on track with the latest updates to best practice. To find out more about how your organisation can get started, visit our Net Zero page.

Our Optimised Net Zero service supports your business’s journey to net zero by creating a strategy, helping you understand your emissions impact across your value chain, and defining and prioritising actions to achieve your net zero goal. We set greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets, implement software to manage and report GHG emissions data, support GHG performance, compliance and sustainability reporting, and provide meaningful insights from data analytics to take advantage of carbon reduction opportunities.