Mahmoud Mohieldin — Egypt’s UN Climate Change High Level Champion — said that mobilising private sector finance for climate action in general, and in Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) particularly, clarifying that global climate finance flows in FY2019/2020 reached $632bn, and only 35bn of that came from LAC.
Mohieldin also said that non-state actors (NSAs) play a vital role in implementing the Paris Agreement’s Global Stocktake (GST) by highlighting opportunities for implementation and enhancing climate action and international cooperation that help domestic policy makers and non-party stakeholders to achieve climate goals.
His remarks came during his participation on Thursday in the activities of the Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week (LACCW) that was hosted by the Dominican Republic from 18 to 22 July.
Mohieldin added that NSAs can break down silos, unify efforts of different parties that participate in climate action, and offer practical systemic and sectoral solutions, beside incorporating regional and national perspectives of climate projects, especially in developing countries.
He confirmed the commitment of UN High Level Climate Action Champions (HLCs) to contribute to the GST, which aims to make the Paris Agreement applicable in different communities and countries.
Mohieldin added, in this context, that HLCs aim to enhance regional cooperation in a way that helps delivering the needs of developing countries to achieve climate goals, convene non-party stakeholders to crystalise the sectoral opportunities that can help domestic policymakers in each community to achieve climate goals, alongside mobilising non-party stakeholders to participate in climate action in a collaborative framework in which all parties look forward to a better future.
“Having non-party stakeholders deliver on their pledges and work together with national governments will enable countries to come up with the most ambitious outcome for the GST,” Mohieldin said.
“We have a unique opportunity to use the GST process to drive implementation of climate projects through an inclusive, holistic approach that takes into account the needs of developing countries.”
He also stressed the necessity of translating the signals from the GST into a clear set of messages that help ministries, domestic policymakers, and implementers to find the best solutions for implementing climate projects.
He confirmed, in this context, the HLCs commitment to help make the next technical dialogue at the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) that will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh this November a success.
“Current nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are far from being on track to limit global temperature rise to 2°C, let alone 1.5°C. To achieve emissions targets consistent with the Paris temperature goals, LAC should derive 60 to 70 percent of its electricity from zero-carbon sources by 2050,” The HLC said.
“Implementing NDCs and mobilising more private sector finance for climate action require coordinating and collaboration between public and private sectors in implementing net-zero strategies and removing barriers from the way of private finance flow to climate projects,” Mohieldin concluded.
