Egypt, UN’s High-Level Climate Action Champion Discuss Avenues for Climate Co-op

On Thursday, the UN’s High-Level Climate Action Champion for COP26 Mr Nigel Topping, in his first visit to Egypt, met with key government officials, businesses, universities and civil society members to discuss how the UK can work with Egypt to address climate change challenges ahead of COP26 in November.

As part of his visit, Mr Topping met Minister of Environment Dr Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Dr Mohamed Shaker, Deputy Foreign Minister Hamdi Loza and Assistant Housing Minister for the New Urban Communities Authority Waleed Abbas.

During those meetings, parties discussed joint cooperation between Egypt and the UK in the Adaptation Action Coalition, as well as Egypt’s interests and needs in adaptation. Mr Topping welcomed Egypt’s strong bid to host COP27. Green hydrogen was also a topic of mutual interest between all parties, where Egypt is looking to produce and possibly export large quantities to the region as well as exploring the possibility of committing smart and green cities to the Race to Resilience campaign, a global campaign to secure the resilience of 4 billion people by 2030.

Mr Topping also met with university and youth representatives along with the British Council to celebrate those universities including the Cairo University, who have signed up to the ‘Race to Zero global campaign’, initiated by Topping to commit actors to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Mr Nigel Topping said: “I was delighted to visit Egypt and meet senior government ministers to see how we can work together to tackle the challenges of climate change ahead of COP26. It was also a good opportunity to talk with businesses to increase the flow of green investment in Egypt but also with civil society organizations, who are committed to finding solutions and bringing the climate agenda forward. I look forward to continuing working with Egypt as it prepares to host COP27 the coming year.”

British Ambassador to Egypt, Gareth Bayley, said: “Mr Topping’s visit to Egypt comes at a crucial point as we look to host COP26 next month and hand over the presidency to Egypt as selected nominee in the next year. It is now more important than ever to intensify cooperation with our Egyptian partners to agree on the best action we can take to secure net zero emissions and protect the environment, securing a safe future for generations to come.”

Topping will continue his series of visits across the region and the world to strengthen collaboration and drive action from businesses, investors, organisations, and cities on climate change, and coordinate this work with governments and Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He hopes to return to Egypt in the new year.