Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi participated on Thursday, via video conference, in the Summit of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF), upon an invitation from US President Joe Biden and with the participation of a number of heads of state and government and the UN secretary-general.
Addressing the event, President Sisi thanked President Joe Biden for inviting him to this summit, whose agenda reflects a number of issues included in the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan, which was adopted at the COP27 climate change summit, held last November.
The plan was aimed to implement a number of concrete measures, on top of which are the expansion in the use of renewable energy and the reduction of methane emissions.
“I stress the importance of the availability of implementation means, especially through the fulfillment by developed countries of their commitments towards the developing countries,” President Sisi said. He added that the success of the international community in confronting climate change depends on providing appropriate and sufficient funding to support the implementation of programmes and projects to reduce carbon emissions, in addition to dealing seriously with the issue of loss and damage resulting from climate change.
The Egyptian presidency of COP27 is proud to have taken a decision for the first time in this regard, and hopes to achieve the desired progress before the next COP28 summit in the UAE, the president said.
President Sisi urged the international community to establish and finance a special fund for loss and damage, in a way that leads to strengthening confidence between the parties concerned with the climate change agreement.
During his address, President Sisi reviewed Egypt’s efforts to overcome the negative repercussions of the climate change on humanity.
He said that with regard to the expansion of renewable energy, the government is in the process of finalising the required procedures to ensure the provision of the necessary financing to achieve Egypt’s goal of reaching 42 per cent of energy production sources from renewable energy by 2030.
Egypt seeks to expedite the implementation of memorandums of understanding on hydrogen production to become a main hub for the production of clean energy, as well as to reduce the carbon footprint of the energy-intensive industry sector.
He said that the government is implementing several ambitious transport projects that are compatible with the environment.
“We are implementing several ambitious transport projects that are compatible with the environment. We have completed the first phase of the light electric train and projects for sustainable transport are about to be completed in major cities,” the president said.
Moreover, the network of EV charging stations is being expanded to encourage the shift to the use of electric vehicles.
The government is also implementing projects to improve energy efficiency, in various sectors and government buildings, to reduce the carbon footprint of those sectors.
The Egyptian House of Deputies, this month, gave its approval for Egypt to join the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and the government is developing a plan for the gradual reduction of hydrofluorocarbon in both production and consumption.
Egypt also joined the methane pledge in the petroleum and gas sector. The Ministry of Petroleum prepared a list of projects and an action plan to reduce methane emissions. Consultations with partners are held to discuss financing them.
Given the climate challenges facing the international community, Egypt considers it necessary to build on the current momentum to address the existential challenge associated with climate change.
It hopes that our next summit, in the United Arab Emirates, would be a successful by all accounts, the president told the forum.
This shall help achieving the goal of maintaining our planet’s average temperature, as stated in the Paris Agreement, and working toward attaining the goal of one and a half degrees, which contributes to accelerating the required economic and development transformation, allows the mobilisation of financial and technical support, and promotes innovation to achieve the desired goals.
Egypt looks forward to joining the Forest and Climate Initiative, launched on the sidelines of the Sharm El-Sheikh Conference, as well as the Carbon Management Challenge, to be launched at COP28.
Egypt also agrees with the need to accelerate the transition to emission neutrality in a number of sectors, including the maritime transport sector, as well as the energy sector, both by expanding renewable energy and shifting toward zero-emission fuels, such as hydrogen, President Sisi said.
President Sisi reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment, as Chair of the current session of the Summit on Climate Change and as an active state in climate change negotiations, to advance an ambitious and balanced agenda based on the implementation of scientific recommendations and the promotion of just, appropriate and expeditious implementation of commitments on the ground.
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