CAIRO – 2 December 2022: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said “little disappointment” expressed by some parties over the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh last month is “unwarranted” given that the $100 billion commitment has not been met.
Shoukry made the remarks during his speech at the eighth edition of the Rome 2022 MED Mediterranean Dialogues held in Rome with the participation of foreign ministers of Mediterranean countries.
“I believe Sharm El-Sheikh has followed through on the slogan in terms of implementation. There was implementation on all of the fronts,” Shoukry said.
Shoukry, however, stressed that since 2009 the commitment of provision of $100 billion has not been fulfilled and continues not to be fulfilled.
“There has been some who have expressed little disappointment but I think this disappointment is unwarranted especially in view of the fact that those who have indicated that disappointment that was not enough done in terms of mitigation do not take into account that there is quite a deficiency when it comes to their fulfillment of their obligation,” Shoukry said.
A number of parties, including the European Union (EU), have expressed their “disappointment” over the COP27 outcomes.
The final deal "does not bring enough added efforts from major emitters to increase and accelerate their emissions cuts,” said Frans Timmermans, the first vice president of the European Commission at the end of the summit.
Timmermans added that the COP27 deal “does not bring a higher degree of confidence that we will achieve the commitments made under the Paris Agreement and in Glasgow last year."
Loss and damage fund
The main achievement of COP27 in Egypt has been the loss and damage fund which has been established, Shoukry said.
“This is an objective that has been in the making for the last 27 or 28 years. We have been able to incorporate it on the agenda of COP27, Shoukry said, affirming that the actual initiation of the establishment of the fund has been main objective of the vast majority of developing states over these last two decades.
Shoukry expressed hope that the operation on mechanisms for the fund will be put in place within this year and that the fund will be supported so as to provide necessary assistance to the most vulnerable,” Shoukry said.
This is “whether in Pakistan or in even Europe or in US or in South Africa, where turbulent weather events have really had very severe impact,” the foreign minister added.
COP27 outcomes
Shoukry said COP27 has been particularly challenging because of the number of participants which almost reached the 50,000 actual participants, and the expensive nature of both the Green Zone and the Blue Zone.
This is in addition to the participation of all of the stakeholders, whether negotiators, civil society, the private sector, and the interest that has been generally related to climate change, and the impact of climate change, the minister added.
Shoukry said COP27 managed to keep the goal of keeping the planet’s average temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above its preindustrial level alive.
“We have also put in place a tangible way forward on the global goal on adaptation to enable COP28 to finalize the global goal and again deal with an issue that is challenging,” Shoukry said.
The COP27 president noted that adaptation unfortunately receives minute percentage of the financial resources available.
This comes “whereas the need for adaptation to address the consequences of climate change, especially in the developing world, especially in Africa, is immense,” Shoukry added.
“We have also highlighted the importance of finance that neither adaptation nor mitigation can be effectively undertaken without the provision of finance to enable developing states to embrace and follow through on their ambitious commitments toward renewable energy,” Shoukry added.
Geopolitical challenges
Shoukry said Egypt has been able despite the geopolitical challenges to maintain its stability and security and “it is fundamental that it does so in cooperation with its international partners.”
He, however, affirmed that the geopolitical context has been “turbulent and destructive” with the last years with the pandemic, the Ukraine crisis and the subsequent results in terms of the impact on the global economic environment, disruption to supply chains, and insecurity in food and energy.
This is in addition to the regional conflicts, including in Libya, the destabilizing consequences of the spread of terrorism, and the vulnerability that is associated with the political condition in Iraq and in Syria, Shoukry added.
“Egypt is the most populous state in the MENA region with a 105 million inhabitants and though vast potential and results over the past eight years have been quite substantial and maintaining a healthy level of growth but we are currently also impacted negatively by the current economic conditions,” the minister added.
Shoukry said Egypt has been contributing quite effectively at the political level to stabilizing situations of conflict in its immediate vicinity in Libya, and Sahel and Sahara.
He added that Egypt is cooperating with the Arab group to find a peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian-Russian conflict.
“We will continue to participate in all of the various forums that are relatable and with clear dedication to multilateralism and its benefits,’ Shoukry added.
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