In light of Egypt’s presidency of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) that will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh this November, the COP27’s Presidency announced the launch of an unprecedented initiative to enhance investments in different climate action sectors.
The initiative will bring together climate projects, investors, companies, international financing entities, development banks, and other stakeholders on one table with the aim of starting actual implementation of projects that help achieve climate action goals.
The push includes holding five major regional roundtables, the first of which will take place in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa — home of the UN Regional Economic Committee for Africa — from 2 to 4 August.
Thailand’s Bangkok — home of the UN Regional Economic Committee for Asia-Pacific — will host the second roundtable on 25 August.
Moreover, Chile’s Santiago — home of the UN Regional Economic Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean — will host the third roundtable from 1 to 2 September, while Lebanon’s Beirut — home of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia — will host the Arab world roundtable on 15 September.
Finally, Switzerland’s Geneva — home of the UN Regional Economic Committee for Europe — will host the last roundtable on 20 September.
The outcomes of the five meetings will be announced during the COP27.
Mahmoud Mohieldin — Egypt’s UN Climate Change High-Level Champion — said that the initiative aims to discuss investment opportunities in food, water, irrigation systems development, increasing agricultural productivity, new and renewable sources of energy and their infrastructure, and the digital transition of these sectors in a way that helps in implementing climate projects on the ground, thereby achieving climate goals and providing job opportunities in the countries of the five regions.
He clarified that the first roundtable will take place in Addis Ababa under the title ‘Towards COP27: African Regional Forum on Climate Initiatives to Finance Climate Action and the SDGs’ and that there will be high-level Egyptian participation, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and COP27 President-Designate Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad, Minister of International Cooperation Rania Almashat, and Chairperson of the Egyptian Exchange Mohamed Farid.
The forum will include many sessions that will discuss financial vehicles for a just transition finance, upscaling investment in adaptation, ecosystem-based approaches, disaster risk reduction loss and damage, Green Business matchmaking in Africa, and private sector networking for climate action.
Moreover, the forum’s agenda will contain six other roundtables that address energy access and just energy transition and transport, food security, climate smart agriculture, building resilience and ecosystem-based approaches, digital transformation, the development of African carbon credit markets, the Blue Economy, and supporting water access for different cities.
The event will aim to catalyse climate finance and investment flows towards building climate resilience in Africa, advancing the 2063 and 2030 Agendas, finding climate and economic nature-based solutions that help achieve the UN’s sustainable development goals in Africa, getting the most of the benefits of Africa’s carbon credits, tackling key barriers precluding large scale debt swaps, and enhancing collaboration between public and private stakeholders and different countries to improve risk management.
