New Presidency

Alok Sharma, President of COP 26 representing the United Kingdom, passed the baton officially to the new Egyptian President of COP 27, HE Sameh Shoukry, during the opening plenary.

During his speech, Mr. Sharma reiterated the achievements made during COP 26, such as finalizing the Paris Rulebook – the guidelines for delivering that Agreement – and making more substantial financial commitments.

He shared that the implementation of last year’s commitments must continue to achieve long-term goals and progress toward 1.5°C warming. He urged leaders to act, expressing, “As challenging as our current moment is, inaction is myopic and can only defer climate catastrophe, we must find the ability to focus on more than one thing at once.”

COP 27 President Speech

In his opening speech, COP 27 President HE Sameh Shoukry expressed his gratitude to the participants for choosing Egypt to host the event. Sharing that Egypt will make every effort to encourage the event’s success. He highlighted what he believes are necessary actions to produce successful outcomes,  “It is time to move on from negotiations and vows to a stage where execution is a priority. The bar of ambition for every country should also be raised on a par with their capabilities. I applaud every country that updated its nationally determined contributions, including Egypt. I hereby, representing all of you, urge all states to follow suit, especially since a recent evaluation of contributions indicated that they are not commensurate with the goals of [the Paris Agreement].”

 Remarks by IPCC Chair

Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr. Hoesung Lee, reiterated Sunday that financial inflows are insignificant compared to current climate dangers. He shared that the world is not on track to limit global warming to 1.5°C and that, according to the 2022 IPCC report, we have access to the technology and know-how to tackle climate change but are limited by the availability of financing models. Dr. Lee highlighted the severity of the issues, “With increasing warming, losses and damages will increase, and other human and natural systems will be pushed to adaptation limits. Therefore, ambitious mitigation to keep global warming within limits is a prerequisite to a successful adaptation.”

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s remarks

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi shared his anticipation for the inauguration of COP 27 activities in Sharm El Sheikh. He affirmed that: “Egypt hopes that pledges would turn into actions, after the conference, with concrete steps on the ground, thus building on the previous achievements, especially the outcomes of the Glasgow Summit and the Paris Agreement.”

‘Loss and damage’ on the agenda

For the first time since the adoption of the UN climate convention, loss and damage are now on the provisional agenda; with member parties agreeing that “matters relating to funding arrangements responding to loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including a focus on addressing loss and damage,” was to be included.

‘Global State of the Climate’ report

The World Meteorological Organization launched its provisional ‘Global State of the Climate’ report for 2022; the final report will be published in April 2023. The annual report gives a comprehensive view of the current state of climate globally with regard to factors such as key climate indicators, extreme events, and their consequences.

Per the report, the last eight years are on track to be the eighth warmest on record due to rising greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Extreme weather events, including heat waves, droughts, and floods, have affected millions and cost billions this year. The rate of sea level rise has doubled since 1993.