Egypt lays groundwork to host COP27

CAIRO — Cairo has recently stepped up its efforts to attract international support for the 2022 Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh in November.

In a Feb. 1 virtual meeting with Egyptian ambassadors abroad, Egypt’s foreign minister and COP27 President-designate Sameh Shoukry called on the envoys to start preparations for the conference.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued following the meeting that Shoukry directed “the Egyptian embassies to work with all international parties during the coming period to put forth the Egyptian vision for the conference and garner the necessary support for international efforts to confront climate change.”

Subsequently, the Foreign Ministry convened the heads of diplomatic missions and ambassadors to Cairo to “build the necessary momentum for the next session of the COP27 and inform the diplomatic community in Cairo about the preparatory efforts for the conference,” read its Feb. 4 statement.

According to the statement, the special representative of the president-designate, Wael Abul-Magd, stressed during the meetings “Egypt’s openness to all parties to address the various issues under negotiation and build on the successes achieved in the last session of the conference in Glasgow, while focusing on the need to start delivering on all commitments and pledges related to financing climate change projects and adapting to and mitigating its negative effects.”

On Feb. 2, Shoukry received a phone call from European Commission’s executive vice president for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Shoukry told Timmermans, “Egypt is adopting an ambitious agenda for the next session of the conference that includes upgrading national contributions to reduce emissions and finance projects to adapt to the negative impacts of climate change.”

Hussein Haridi, Egypt’s former assistant foreign minister, told Al-Monitor, “Britain will hand over the presidency of the climate conference to Egypt at the end of this year, after it hosted the Glasgow conference last year. There is a clear political will in Egypt for this conference to produce positive results for Africa in particular, especially regarding how the international community deals with climate changes that greatly affect developing countries.”

On Feb. 5, the Egyptian mission to the African Union in Addis Ababa organized a discussion session at the AU headquarters to discuss preparations for COP27.

During the session, Mohamed Gad, Egypt’s ambassador to Ethiopia and permanent representative to the AU, stressed “the urgent need to understand the special circumstances of the [African] countries and their endeavors to achieve sustainable development, as well as the need for pledges supporting efforts to adapt to the climate change consequences and providing climate financing to the countries of the continent.”

Haridi told Al-Monitor, “Egypt’s interest in having the COP27 conference come to fruition has been evident since the decision to form a higher government committee headed by the Egyptian prime minister [in November]. All ministries concerned with this conference are represented in this committee, led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which will play a role in globally promoting and mobilizing the necessary momentum and support for the success of the conference and the achievement of its objectives.”

When Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly hosted the third meeting of the committee on Feb. 1, he stressed “the importance of continuous coordination between the concerned ministries regarding all logistical and substantive arrangements for hosting the conference … while developing solutions for the urgent issues that will be discussed and the technical initiatives that will be launched during the conference with the aim of leveraging this important event.”

Haridi said, “Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and reducing emissions by 2050 within agreed limits require joint international efforts instead of efforts limited to a single country. Egypt’s role during its presidency of the COP27 conference is to set the stage for an agreement on such goals, but the countries that will participate must be fully prepared to assume their responsibilities, be they financial responsibilities or ones related to implementing relevant plans.”

Haridi further stressed, “Egypt will focus during the COP27 on the need to increase funding to support developing countries in adapting to the effects of climate change. Although the … share of developing, and African countries in particular, [of CO2 emissions] is negligible compared to countries such as China, India or the United States, African and developing countries including Egypt suffer greatly from climate change. Therefore, the more developed countries need to shoulder their moral and collective responsibilities and provide the necessary funding for developing countries to deal with the negative effects of climate change.”

Tarek Fahmy, a professor of political science at the American University of Cairo, told Al-Monitor, “Egypt’s recent diplomatic moves are primarily aimed at garnering international support for the success of the conference while providing the necessary funding for developing and African countries to enable them to adapt to climate change and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.”

He pointed out, “Egypt will keep working to push the major industrial countries to provide the necessary financing to developing countries that suffer from carbon emissions and the intensive exploitation of energy. Those countries had pledged to provide $100 billion on an annual basis to developing countries, but this has yet to be achieved.”

Fahmy added, “Egypt’s mobilization efforts will enable it to overcome the differences that emerged at the climate summit held in Glasgow, which did not achieve the desired goals globally. COP27 will confirm Egypt’s ability to address climate issues by adopting sound environmental policies. It will also leave a great impact that allows Egypt to bring the international endeavors to fruition while achieving the goals of the conference, confronting global warming and setting a limit of 1.5°C.”