I have recently arrived from Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, where COP27 was held. I assisted the conference as an observer from the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF.

This COP marks 30 years since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted and seven years since the Paris Agreement was agreed upon at COP21. We arrived at COP27 with an anomalous situation compared to previous years. The war between Russia and Ukraine affects the rest of the countries and is monopolizing governments’ priorities and budgets. While taking action is crucial, the uncertainty of the crises suggested that the negotiations would be complicated.

Loss and damage and Climate Justice were on the focus of the discussion, global heating consequences are affecting most to those countries that are contributing least to GHG emissions. Funding is essential. It is not a matter of lending money or helping developing countries; it is a matter of accounting for responsibility and following the polluter pays principle.

You can check here articles about my thoughts on the results and decisions made in Sharm el-Sheikh.

This is me in my first participation in a COP 🚀

How large was the carbon footprint of COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh compared to COP25 in Madrid and COP26 in Glasgow?

The Conference of Parties (COP) is an annual gathering of world leaders and policymakers to discuss global climate change issues. The 27th edition of COP was held in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt in 2022. In this blog post, we will discuss the estimated carbon footprint of COP27, based on previous COP events in Glasgow (COP26) and Madrid (COP25). To estimate the carbon footprint of COP27, we analyzed data from COP26 and COP25. The number of participants in each edition has been reported in the press:

  • COP25 Madrid: 26,700 participants (source)
  • COP26 Glasgow: 40,000 participants (source)
  • COP27 Sharm el-Sheikh: 35,000 participants (source)

The total of tons of CO2 equivalent emissions in COP25 and COP26, being 51,101.00 and 102,500.00 respectively.

The main emission sources in all the cases are flights and accommodations of participants, as reported in the calculation of the carbon footprint in COP26 Glasgow. The same share between flights (60%) and accommodation (40%) in the carbon footprint is being assumed in COP25, COP26, and COP27. In the case of COP27, where total carbon footprint is not available, it has been calculated from the total value in COP26 as directly proportional to the number of participants in each event.

Even though, due to airport capacity, I suspect even more flights are needed to get Sharm than Glasgow (most flights to COP27 had a stopover in Cairo). In addition, carbon footprint values in accommodation has been recalculated with a correcting factor corresponding to the energy efficiency of each country.

  • Spanish correcting factor according to energy efficiency: 0.660
  • British correcting factor according to energy efficiency: 0.725
  • Egyptian correcting factor according to energy efficiency: 0.315


The following table discloses the results estimated in each COP edition:

COP25 COP26 COP27
Total (tons of CO2) 75,698.48 102,500.00 148,177.58
Flights (tons of CO2) 30,660.60 61,500.00 53,812.50
Accommodation (tons of CO2) 45,037.88 41,000.00 94,365.08


Results per number of participants is presented in next table:

COP25 COP26 COP27
Total (tons of CO2) 2.84 2.56 4.23
Flights (tons of CO2) 1.15 1.54 1.54
Accommodation (tons of CO2) 1.69 1.03 2.70


In conclusion, the estimated carbon footprint of COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh is significant and apparently much higher than previous editions, but steps can be taken to reduce emissions in future COP events. This can include using virtual conferencing technology to reduce air travel and promoting sustainable practices such as using renewable energy sources and reducing waste in accommodations. As the world comes together to address the urgent issue of climate change, it’s important for us to lead by example and take concrete steps to reduce our carbon footprint.

Note: The results reported for COP27 are based on calculations of previous editions and estimates.