Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt and UN Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, said that science and sharing applicable knowledge are the basis for the right implementation of climate action.
“There are three elements necessary for serious implementation of climate action: fair and sufficient finance, change of social behavior from governments as well as citizens, and knowledge and scientific solutions”, said Dr Mohieldin during his participation in “Applicable Knowledge for Climate & Development” session, within the activities of COP27.
Regarding knowledge, Mohieldin emphasized the importance of the book “Business, Governments and Sustainable Development Goals .. Role of Public-Private Partnerships in building a Sustainable Future”. “This book is very important, because it indicates some complicated issues related to sustainability but in a simple way, also it confirms that climate action and development sustainable are not contradicting”, he said.
He added that the book indicates the importance of a holistic approach related to climate action, which includes the four dimensions of climate action: mitigation, adaptation to climate change, addressing loss and damage caused by the phenomenon, and providing necessary finance for climate action, adding that this holistic approach is what Egypt calls for adopting in COP27.
“The book highlighted governments role at the national level, also the role of business sector, local communities and partnerships in climate action and achieving sustainability”, he said, stressing that the actual implementation of climate and development action requires joint efforts, short-term timetables, and clear action mechanisms.
He pointed out that “A transition approach to poverty reduction and climate finance” report confirms that separation between climate action and the rest of SDGs is something wrong and misleading, and that sustainable development will be achieved by combining all of its goals.
Mohieldin noted the book written by Colombian child Francisco Javier Vera Manzanares on climate change in a simple and suitable way for children, adding that he asked to translate it into Arabic with the aim of raising Arab children’s awareness about climate issues.
During the session, Mohieldin asked Francesco to talk about his book and solutions he proposed to the climate crisis.
Additionally, during a session entitled “Landscapes for life: Demonstrating inclusive, just and resilient transformation of the land use sector”, Mohieldin confirmed that separating climate action aspects will do more harm than good, stressing the importance of “Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda”, launched during COP27, which includes 30 main fields of action to scale up adaptation measures in an equal way to mitigation measures.
“It is important to have updated data and information systems that allow protecting ecosystem”, he sais, stressing that the early warning system proposed by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres requires updated databases and systems.
The climate champion highlighted the role of scientific research centers and universities in providing data systems required for climate action, also he mentioned the role of insurance, business sectors and public-private partnerships in implementing holistic climate action.
“Limiting global warming to 1.5°C goal will only be achieved by investing in nature and biodiversity”, he said, referring in this regard to innovative finance mechanisms such as debt swaps for investing in nature, establishing carbon markets, and linking them to forests and biodiversity.
He stressed the importance of private sector participation in investment and finance, such as the participation of Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) in financing some climate projects in Africa and Asia.
