At the Pre-COP 27 meeting in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt’s COP27 Presidency, spelled out the importance that the developed world keep its climate pledges to avoid a “crisis of trust” in the COP process whilst holding out hope for progress at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh this November.
The statement quoted the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs and COP27 President-Designate, as saying: “We have not yet delivered on the 100 billion dollars’ pledge, which in itself is more a symbol of trust and reassurance than a remedy to actual climate needs”.
Speaking to an audience including over 60 ministers from around the world about the impact of pledges not being met by the developed world, Sameh Shoukry said mitigation finance is receiving more attention than adaptation” and that “instruments of finance are still mostly non-concessional loans rather than concessional loans and grants which account for only six percent of climate finance
Commenting on the current levels of support to protect people’s lives and livelihoods in the developing world the Egyptian top diplomat stressed the need to find a way to address this challenge.
According to him, without appropriate and fair finance serving as a catalyst, we (developing countries) will all continue to struggle in delivering impactful climate action.
Loss and damage
Despite the scale of the challenge facing many nations, given current geopolitical and economic issues, the Egyptian Presidency-Designate spoke about the need to make progress stating that: “delaying action will only make it harder and more expensive.”
The inclusion of loss and damage on the agenda, according to climate experts, this would indicate a significant shift in the debate and would enable COP27 to make progress on four key areas of climate action: adaptation, mitigation, finance and loss and damage, which featured prominently in Pre-COP 27’s agenda.
Recently, Denmark followed Scotland in providing unilateral support for loss and damage by earmarking USD$13 million through a financial instrument for loss and damage.
As climate-justice activists and diplomats from developing countries gear up once again to push for loss and damage finance at the COP27 summit in Egypt, Carbon Brief has asked a range of experts about the role they think this issue has in the global struggle for justice.
As climate-justice activists and diplomats from developing countries gear up once again to push for loss and damage finance at the COP27 summit in Egypt, Carbon Brief has asked a range of experts about the role they think this issue has in the global struggle for justice.
Urging nations to address the trust deficit, Mr Shoukry said: “we must develop and cultivate a sense of mutual trust and understanding. Our effort must not be approached as a zero-sum equation. We must all rise to the occasion and demonstrate leadership, set aside narrow national interests and appreciate the potential in cooperation, compromise and collective win-win scenarios” (END)
