Mohieldin: World needs ambitious vision, urgent interventions to push climate action 

Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP27 and UN Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, stressed that the files of climate change adaptation, loss and damage, and finance need urgent interventions, an ambitious vision, and the fulfillment of relevant pledges.

The remarks were part of Mohieldin’s speech at the United Nations Climate Action: Race to Zero and Resilience Forum.

He warned of reducing climate action to mitigation or decarbonization as it is only a formula for failure.

In his speech, the climate champion stressed the importance of adopting a holistic approach that deals with the climate crisis within the framework of sustainable development plans and on the basis of the Paris Agreement, especially in light of the crises the world is facing today.

This, he went on, requires finding practical solutions and mobilizing more funds, a matter that will help promote growth rates, curb poverty and create job opportunities.

According to Mohieldin, such a holistic approach helps find “practical” and “equitable” solutions that ensure sustainability at all fiscal, environmental and social levels .

The climate champion also stressed the paramount importance of enhancing the role played by non-state actors and the private sector in addition to opening up new horizons for private-public partnerships.

Meanwhile, Mohieldin stressed the need to enhance trust through fulfilling previous pledges .

Regarding the regionalization of climate action, Mohieldin clarified that four regional roundtables resulted in more than 70 investable and bankable projects in adaptation and mitigation domains and they will be presented in COP27.

As for finance, Mohieldin stressed the necessity to activate concessional and innovative financial instruments like debt swaps for investments in nature, bearing in mind that over 60% of climate finance is debt-based.

In a related context, Mohieldin referred to ongoing discussions related to Africa’s carbon markets with a number of experts with the aim of outlining certain standards that suit the demands of emerging markets.