Egypt’s president meets with Swedish climate activist who cycled 7,000 km to attend COP27

CAIRO – 10 November 2022: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met early on Thursday with a Swedish climate activist who cycled 7,000 km in a trip that lasted four months to attend the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh city, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said.

“72-year-old grandma … Sweden-Egypt 8,228 km … No Fossil Fuels,” the lady, Dorothee Hildebrandt, wrote on the back of her training suit.

Hildebrandt also cycled from Sweden to COP26 in Glasgow but the distance was much shorter.

 

“Going by bicycle to COP27 in Egypt means to bike between 8,000 and 10,000 km one way. That’s a lot! That’s up to four times the distance I rode my bike to Glasgow, but I learned a lot during that trip. Anyway, it is a challenge,” she wrote on her blog last February.

Sisi led a cycling marathon early on Thursday in Sharm El-Sheikh city to inspect COP27 eco-friendly Green Zone.

President Sisi met with a number of youth and foreign visitors participating in the COP27 summit during his inspection tour of the zone.

 

The Green Zone of COP27 in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh is a platform that hosts business community, youth, civil and indigenous societies, academia, artists and fashion communities from around the world to express themselves and ensure that their voices are heard.

The Green Zone aims at promoting dialogue, awareness, education, and commitments via various events, including exhibitions, workshops, cultural performances, and talks.

COP27 kicked off on Sunday and is set to extend until 18 November with a focus on turning climate pledges into commitment, boosting climate action, and ensure that developing countries receive the funding required for them to fulfill their climate commitments.