UN Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt and UN Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin said that providing efficient and fair finance is the key to the implementation of climate action called for by COP27.
His remarks came during the opening ceremony for Finance Day, COP27, with the participation of Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maeet, Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva, President of the World Bank David Malpass, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Odile Renaud Basu, UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance Mark Carney and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme Achim Steiner.
Mohieldin spoke of a large funding gap for development and climate action in developing and emerging countries.
Current estimates put the shortfall at $1.3 trillion until 2025, which may increase to $2.4 trillion by 2030.
“Commitment to financing climate action has become a necessity”, Mohieldin said.
The pledge of the COP in Copenhagen to finance climate action in developing countries by $100 billion annually has so far been fulfilled only by a few developed countries, Mohieldin said.
“The importance of fulfilling this pledge is that it paves the way for achieving more pledges, although this amount represents only 3 per cent of the funds required,” Mohieldin added.
Public budgets of developing countries bear 80 per cent of finance for development and climate action, while 60 per cent of climate finance is through debt, he said, adding that the private sector and national development banks should scale up finance for climate action and adopt International Development Association (IDA) standards for grants and soft loans.
Mohieldin stressed the need to work on reducing debt and activating the debt swap for investment in climate and environmental projects.
The initiative of the five regional forums launched by the Egyptian presidency of COP27 in co-operation with the United Nations regional economic commissions and the team of High Level Champions of Climate Change resulted in 400 projects covering different dimensions of climate action, of which 50 will be showcased at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Mohieldin said he was satisfied with the agreement with the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) to finance some of the projects that resulted from Africa Regional Forum.
The climate champion highlighted the importance of activating innovative financing tools, expressing his happiness with the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) during the conference.
This initiative would make African countries better able to finance climate action, he said.
He stressed the importance of promoting environment, social and corporate governance practices in order to prevent green washing and to ensure the commitment by the private sector to play their part in environmental and social action.
Mohieldin praised the launching of the Sharm el-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda during the COP27, which provides sustainable financing of vital sectors, including food, agriculture, water, nature, coasts, oceans, human settlements and infrastructure, calling on parties and non-parties to participate in financing and implementing this important agenda.
He called for a holistic approach that deals with poverty, food and health problems along with environmental and climate problems in one framework, noting the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects, launched by the Egyptian government, which aims to enhance the participation of various local actors in climate and development action, so that their results are felt in rural and urban areas.
The climate champion stressed the importance of credibility and trust building among all parties and actors with regard to financing and implementing climate action.
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