US and Egypt launch group to prepare for Cop27 climate summit
21 February 2022, 16:54
John Kerry outlined the plans at a news briefing in Cairo with Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shukry.
The United States and Egypt have launched a joint working group to prepare for the next climate change summit in November.
US envoy for climate issues John Kerry said the group is focused on the United Nations’ Cop27 conference in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
He said the country has already begun its preparations for the meeting.
Mr Kerry said other world tensions, including the ongoing Ukraine crisis, “will not change the reality of what is happening every day with respect to our climate”, and called the issue an “international threat for all of us”.
The special presidential envoy on climate said at a news briefing in Cairo with Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shukry: “There are no politics in this. There is no ideology in this. This is not anything to do with some of the issues (of concern for the US administration).”
Mr Kerry, who also met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, was referring to conflicts in the Middle East and probably Egypt’s human rights record, which has drawn criticism from the US and other Western governments.
Mr Shukry said they discussed priorities and goals of the Egyptian-chaired Cop27, including making funds available to developing counties to implement the Paris 2015 agreement on climate change.
The former US senator and secretary of state, who landed in the Egyptian capital on Sunday, spoke at the American University in Cairo on the future of international climate action in the lead-up to Cop27.
He called for concerted efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions by a minimum of 45% by 2030.
“The test ahead of us is not just a political and diplomatic challenge to tame mother nature – it is a test pitting human nature against itself,” he said.
In a news briefing, Mr Kerry said they aim to implement all promises made in last year’s UN climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
In the 2021 summit, almost 200 nations accepted a compromise deal, which outside experts said showed progress, but not success.
Mr Kerry said that the US was also working with Egypt on its own transition to a clean energy future.
In June, Mr Kerry announced an increase in US funding to help Egypt convert to solar energy and move away from fossil fuels, a major source of energy in the country of over 100 million people.
In recent years, the Egyptian government has taken steps to convert to renewables, seizing the advantage of the country’s optimal solar and wind conditions for energy harvesting.
Also on Monday, the Council of Europe warned in a statement that a lack of at-scale funding for “resilient and just energy transitions” in developing countries is an obstacle for green and sustainable development.
