UN Climate Change High Level Champion Mahmoud Mohieldin
During his participation in the 2022 Friends of Paris Agreement High Level Dialogue, Mohieldin – who is also UN Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda – clarified that COP27 will skip the pledges and promises and find practical solutions that help implement climate projects, the conference will also bring state and non-state actors together to enhance all parties’ participation in implementing climate action.
"The Sharm El-Sheikh conference focuses on dealing with the future climate change problems through immediate action in the four aspects of climate action mentioned by the Paris Agreement, which are mitigation, adaptation, dealing with losses and damages, and financing climate action, while putting all of these in a holistic context to achieve sustainable development through fighting poverty and inequality, providing job opportunities, and investing in human capital and infrastructure," Mohieldin said.
He also emphasised the importance of implementing the Paris Agreement and not retreating from this path in order to confront the current global challenges.
The climate champion said that the 2015 agreement was an international achievement by every measure as it represents a global work platform that aims to achieve climate targets, stressing the necessity of implementing it.
Mohieldin said that November’s conference in Sharm El-Sheikh would work on filling the current gaps in the global joint work that resulted from the current global circumstances through enhancing regional aspects of climate action as a complement to the international effort.
Moreover, he expressed happiness with the results of the five regional forums initiative launched by Egypt’s presidency of COP27, UN regional economic commissions, and HLCs, four of which resulted in more than 70 investable, bankable and applicable climate projects.
He also referred to the local dimension of climate action that COP27 prioritises as well, which aims to involve local actors in development and climate action so that the results of these efforts can be felt by all cities and villages, highlighting the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects in Egypt that will be showcased in Sharm El-Sheikh as an unprecedented local climate action initiative.
Mohieldin said that COP27 also focuses on finance, referring to the necessity of having developed countries fulfil their pledges to finance climate action in developing countries; discussing post-2025 financing plans; working on reducing climate financing on a debt basis in developing countries and emerging markets; enhancing the private sector participation in financing and implementing climate projects; establishing carbon markets that suit economies of the developing countries; activating debt swaps for co-investing in climate action; enhancing ESGs to prevent green washing; and linking public budgets of states to development and climate action.
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