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COP27: Canadian researcher identifies a 'crucial priority'

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As world leaders descend on Egypt for the annual climate conference known this year as COP27, Canadians are also among those joining the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"We have the strategies available to us now, we have the technologies in every sector and every climate that can deliver those goals. We're just not moving fast enough, so that's what this conference is about," Waterloo Climate Institute executive director Sarah Burch told CTV's Your Morning on Monday.

Burch, a Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Governance and Innovation, is heading to COP27, which began on Sunday. Other Canadian researchers are also attending the conference, with plans to talk about the role that oceans play in combatting climate change.

Known as the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, COP27 comes after the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its sixth assessment report in April, on which Burch served as a lead author.

The report found that, based on current actions, the world is not on track to limit global warming to below 2 C this century, or ideally below 1.5 C, which governments agreed to through the 2015 Paris Accords.

In November 2021, countries signed on to the Glasgow Climate Pact from COP26, which reaffirmed commitments made in the Paris Agreement.

Burch says, while the Glasgow pact helped "ratchet up" ambitions in order to meet those commitments, the goal this year will be to match those ambitions with action.

Also important will be figuring out how to adapt to the impacts of climate change, she says, pointing to examples such as the severe flooding this year in Pakistan, which killed more than 1,700 people and displaced millions, as well as the extreme heat that hit Western Canada in 2021.

"These impacts are happening now, so protecting our communities, adapting, is a crucial priority at this conference of the parties," Burch said.

Watch the full interview with Sarah Burch at the top of the article. With files from CTV News and The Associated Press.

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