Egypt’s Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Yasmine Fouad said that Egypt, under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, will make the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh city a turning point in international climate efforts.
In an interview with the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) Board Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Ali Hassan on Monday, the minister said the summit will back Egypt’s presence in the main international forums and strengthen its ties with key development partners.
She further noted that Egypt was chosen to host the summit as per the UN system of regional rotation, adding it was the turn of an African nation to host the climate summit.
Choosing Egypt to host COP27 reflects the African countries’ trust in Egypt and its ability to address African issues and help reach agreements and solutions acceptable by all parties, particularly in light of the residual damage inflicted on Africa due to negative impacts of climate change.
The environment minister underlined that Egypt, as the hosting country of the summit, is keen to address urgent issues in the African continent in particular and in developing countries in general, topped by climate adaptation and finance.
She added that Egypt is also looking forward to building on the outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) after finalising the Paris Climate Action Plan. The Paris Climate Action Plan aims at reducing the city’s carbon footprint in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. This Climate Action Plan lays the path for Paris to accelerate its emissions reduction efforts, aiming to be a carbon neutral city by 2050.
Asked about Egypt’s economic and tourism gains from the 12-day summit, Fouad said the summit will bring together from 30,000 to 40,000 participants from 194 countries, including 90 presidents, leaders and kings, which will draw world attention to the Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit.
Asked about turning Sharm el-Sheikh into an ecological tourism city, the minister said the sustainable transport system and road network use clean, environment-friendly electric vehicles.
She added that 200 stations for charging gas-powered and electric buses were installed in Sharm el-Sheikh city.
Through the climate summit, Egypt will urge major countries to implement their pledges at previous UN climate summits, in addition to the 2015 Paris Agreement, in which the signatories pledged to invest $100 billion annually to help developing and affected countries to mitigate and adapt to the negative effects of climate change on human life, the minister said.
As for the ‘Sharm el-Sheikh Guide to Fair Finance’ and the most important initiatives to be presented during the conference, the minister said the guide aims to launch an international framework for climate action that can be implemented in developing countries and emerging markets to attract more investments in adaptation projects.
Fouad noted that over 70 regional and international development partners, institutions, banks, and think-tanks took part in preparing the guide, pointing out that Africa only receives 5.5 per cent of the climate fund in terms of a big gap between the government and private funds for climate action.
COP27 will witness the announcement of the details of the projects presented within the national platform for green projects, the NWFI programme.
In addition, it will witness the announcement of start-ups working in the field of climate technology.
The minister said that the current portfolio of development co-operation projects in the environment sector amounted to $284m in several projects, including the Greater Cairo Air Pollution Control Project implemented with the World Bank Group.
Fouad sent a message to the Egyptians with the launch of this important climate conference, saying that the Egyptian people are the true champions of environmental work, and without their efforts we will not be able to achieve our goals.
She went on to say, “I advise the Egyptian citizen to be part of the event by changing your simple daily habits to protect the environment and address the effects of climate change.”
