Egypt’s priorities as COP27 president

30 years on from the adoption of the UNFCCC, Egypt will take on the role of COP27 president with a pledge to turn words into action on climate change

The Egyptian government holds the role of COP27 president, with a vision of turning planning into implementation.

Around the world, the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is having alarming effects on the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. Climate change aggravates social, economic and environmental threats and urgent action is needed
on the ground now.

But while we need to move rapidly, we must also harmonise global effects to realise commitments and pledges on tackling climate change and realise a sustainable future for all.

On the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the COP27 UN Climate Change Conference will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Minister of foreign affairs Dr Sameh Shoukry has been appointed COP27 president-designate to lead negotiations, which aim to build on the COP26 conference held in Glasgow in November 2021.

The “challenge of our times”

Dr Shoukry has described climate change as the “challenge of our times”, one that requires the international community to work “collectively, effectively and rapidly”.

“In Glasgow, we succeeded in concluding for the most part the extensive negotiations to operationalise the Paris Agreement,” Dr Shoukry said in his COP27 welcome address ahead of the conference. “We must now set our attentions on the full implementation of the agreement and on the delivery of the various commitments and pledges made.

“The reliable science available in the form of the recently published IPCC reports paints a sobering picture and highlights the urgent need to significantly raise our ambition with regard to emissions reduction, in tandem with the need to effectively adapt to the
negative impacts of climate change.

“The reports also reminded us of the need to provide and mobilise necessary financial support from the public and private sources, along with other means of implementation in the form of technology and capacity building it we are to ensure that developing countries
are in a position to make the necessary contribution to this global effort.”

Combatting climate change through collaboration

Dr Shoukry added that while many governments have stepped up their actions, and others will hopefully follow suit, the global effort to combat climate change will require contributions and collaboration with all non-party stakeholders across the board.

With this in mind, Egypt plans to organise COP27 around 10 thematic days of focused discussions, including side events, panel discussions, roundtables and other interactive elements to bring governments and non-governmental stakeholders together to work towards common goals.

30 years on from the adoption of the UNFCCC, Egypt will take on the role of COP27 president with a pledge to turn words into action on climate change.

What thematic days does the conference involve?

• Finance Day.
• Adaptation & Agriculture Day.
• Water Day.
• Decarbonisation Day.
• Science Day.
• Solution Day.
• Gender Day.
• Energy Day.
• Biodiversity Day.
• Youth & Future Generations Day.
• Ace & Civil Society Day.

Egypt is also working to ensure youth organisations are given a prominent role at COP27 and Dr Omnia El Omran has been named as youth envoy for the conference, to promote the perspective of young people both in the run-up to the event and during negotiations.

In his welcome address, Egyptian COP27 president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said that in the 30 years since the adoption of UNFCCC, the world has come a long way in the fight against climate change and its understanding of how to assess its impacts and in the
development of tools to address its causes and consequences.

The focus of Africa in the fight against climate change

“The science is there and clearly shows the urgency with which we must act regarding rapidly reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, taking necessary steps to assist those in need of support to adapt to the negative impacts of climate change, and finding the appropriate formula that would ensure the availability of requisite means of implementation that are indispensable for developing countries in making their contributions to this global effort, especially in the midst of the successive international crises, including the ongoing food security crisis exacerbated by climate change, desertification and water scarcity, especially in Africa that suffers the most impacts,” he added.

“I deeply believe that COP27 is an opportunity to showcase unity against an existential threat that we can only overcome through concerted action and effective implementation. As the incoming presidency, Egypt will spare no effort to ensure that COP27 becomes the moment when the world moved from negotiation to implementation and where words were translated to actions, and where we collectively embarked on a path towards sustainability, a just transition and eventually a greener future for coming generations.”

References

1. https://cop27.eg/#/speeches/foreign-affairs-speech
2. https://cop27.eg/#/presidency#introduction
3. https://cop27.eg/#/speeches/president-speech