Egypt Prepares to Host COP 27 Summit to Combat Climate Change

Egypt has assembled with a number of high-ranking officials as part of the preparatory process for the next UN Climate Change Conference (COP 27), slated for November in the Red Sea coastal city Sharm El-Sheikh.

Last week, the African country hosted the American Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, who affirmed that his country alongside the Egyptian government is working on the COP27 conference in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, noting that Egypt has already taken many steps in the preparation for the summit.

His visit reflected a wide range of bilateral and multilateral issues of common interest related to the climate change conference's agenda, according to the latest domestic reports.

During his visit, Kerry and the Egyptian government launched the US-Egypt climate-working group to advance bilateral and multilateral climate goals ahead of COP27.

In the same connection, Kerry expressed his country's trust in Egypt's presidency of the COP27 conference as well as its keenness to push forward Egyptian-US efforts to face climate change problems.

Egypt also held several consultative meetings with representatives from Germany, the current chair of the G7 summit, and Sweden, which will host in June the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the convening of the first UN conference on the environment under the title 'Stockholm + 50'.

The Egyptian side additionally held consultative meetings with officials of the COP26 conference – held in Glasgow in November 2021 – in preparation for handing over the president's responsibilities to Egypt.

Other discussions were also held with Selwyn Hart, the UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser and Assistant for Climate Action, and the UAE Special Envoy's team for Climate Change.

The latest discussions tackled opportunities for bilateral cooperation in the areas of climate and environment, including renewable clean energy, with the participation of representatives of the country's ministries of environment, electricity and renewable energy, planning and economic development, international cooperation, trade, and industry.

Over the past two years, the government of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has taken further steps to convert to renewables, seizing advantage of the country's optimal solar and wind conditions for energy harvesting.

Following these steps, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry indicated that Egypt will focus on meeting the obligations of the Paris Agreement and exploring how the private sector and NGOs can play a role in financing green investments during COP27.

Thereafter, Egypt announced the appointment of its highly-experienced economist Mahmoud Mohieldin – who has been serving as an executive director at the International Monetary Fund – as the country’s high-level champion for climate action at the COP27.

Speaking to the Egyptian DMC media channel, the Minister of Environment, Dr. Yasmine Fouad, affirmed Egypt’s commitment to work on building bridges of cooperation and finding common ground to forge agreements on critical issues, as well as helping developing and African countries to scale up their measures to confront climate change.

In addition to this, the Egyptian youths have launched an initiative under the theme “Youth of Climate Summit," which is organized by the Ministry of Agriculture to shed light on raising awareness among visitors of the COP 27 summit in Sharm El-Sheikh.

According to the initiative representatives, the YLE is working on disseminating awareness of preserving the environment and carrying out activities to mitigate climate change impacts.