Two days ago, King Charles hosted a meeting of British politicians and the US climate czar John Kerry. About 200 politicians gathered at Buckingham palace. The king for decades has been a strong advocate for climate change response.

UK Prime minister praised Charles as a ‘Far sighted’ King on climate change as he has been advocating for it for a very long time.

Unfortunately, due to his position now, he was advised not to attend the summit in the Egyptian resort. Rishi had not planned to attend but after pressure from the opposition, he is now going to make a rushed visit there.

The challenge of climate change is real and needs all the big economies to respond genuinely. The problem is, with more than 100 heads of state and governments are expected to attend the two-day summit, on the theme of “implementation”, in the Red Sea beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on 7-8 November.

The world’s biggest emitters China and India won’t attend a leaders’ summit. Even US president Joe Biden won’t make the leader segment due to elections back at home but will travel to Egypt on the 11th of November.

With some of the top dogs shying away, do you think political proclamations from Sharm el-Sheikh will yield anything? I personally think not. Most of these political leaders are grappling with domestic agendas which are riding higher than climate change.

Inflation is sending G7 economies into recession, Russia-Ukraine Crisis is not helping either. But the biggest problem is the political divide about climate change in many western cities. The climate change deniers are pushing their agenda as they think this is a conspiracy.

The politicians have also not done enough to show the importance and significance of countries working towards cutting their emissions. As someone working in investment banking, most financial institutions have embraced and are pushing for sustainable investments.

Most funds and investment packages are now being tied to ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) goals meaning, investors are now interested in what their funds are doing to help reduce carbon emissions and drive towards carbon Zero.

This is a good sign that most of the private sector is now taking the climate change debate seriously. But this is mainly in the west and not most of the global north. As seen above China and India are still pushing their economies to keep growing, so pollution and environmental degradation are at the bottom of their priorities.

Of course, they accuse the west that they did the same during the industrial revolution and the era of mass production.

But as the debate is raging about what the global north should do, the real victims are in the developing world. The global north has the resources to shield itself from some of the challenges brought about due to climate change.

I am glad that this time, this conference is being held on the victim’s (African) soil. Africa is the least contributor to global warming and yet suffers the most. Seasons are changing constantly, farmers don’t know when to plant anymore, flooding has become a common occurrence and many African urban areas have been destroyed partly due to poor planning that does not have to futureproof our cities to such calamities.

The biggest problem is, sometimes global solutions are complex and hard to implement, in fact, some take a long time, and you have to wait on funds promised by the global north.

Most of these funds are never received as evidenced by previous commitments that have never materialised. I personally believe there will be more talk and promises than fulfilment and Africa as a continent should be used to this by now.

Instead of waiting on the COP27 resolutions which might never be implemented at all or if implemented not in time to save what might befall our people. Africa needs to create and implement cheap local solutions which are possible.

Governments should make planting and look after trees mandatory. For example, in Uganda, National Forestry Authority status should be elevated to the level of NIRA, every LC1 committee should have an environment, Czar whose role is to make sure they plant trees, and every police station should have an environment unit with a responsible officer, all government schools and facilities should have a green belt around them. Encourage and work with churches as well to have green belts around them as well as distribution of tree seedlings.

Set up recycling bins in most small trading centres and let the environment czar be in charge. These recycling bins can be funded by levying a small plastic tax on all companies that sell things in plastic containers.

Finally, the NGO board should push charities to make climate change part of their agenda and objectives on top of their other objectives since most charities reach and influence people easily more than some government agencies.

The above solutions mentioned are achievable, cheap and can be run using the current government systems without adding much to the funding. Most people in Uganda will respond to their church leaders, schoolteachers, and community leaders themselves. If all the schools and government facilities are leading by example as mentioned above, the community will follow.

These simple solutions will provide localised solutions for our soils, preventing soil erosion and flooding and as well create micro weather for the localities that have embraced them.

In conclusion, I don’t think the COP27 summit in Egypt will yield much to provide solutions for the changing weather conditions in Africa.

It will just provide an opportunity for the big beasts to squabble about what they are doing and not doing and of course for the west to have a go at China and India which are not doing enough to avert this catastrophe.

That said, of course, most global north countries want to combat climate change but the biggest question in their minds is at what cost and how fast can they do this since there are vast amounts of resources already invested in fossil fuels etc.

These are the debates raging in most board and cabinet rooms and it is until they are genuinely certain that genuine and enforceable solutions will start to emerge.

It is because of the above that I believe just like the COP26 in Glasgow, this summit will also end with more fluff, promises, political declarations and commitments that might never be fulfilled or will be fulfilled when it is too late.

I believe African countries embracing and generating their local solutions to fight climate change as they wait for any of the solutions will be the real game changer and examples in this climate change debate.

Otherwise, just like in the past summits, the COP27 will also just be another political gathering with no meaningful resolutions.

The writer works in finance and is an international development practitioner who lives in Bristol, United Kingdom.