Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), chaired the final meeting of the Business Leaders Group for COP27 on Tuesday. The meeting was held virtually and attended by prominent figures from the private sector.
Ahmed Abu Zeid, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the Egyptian presidency of the conference had formed this group, headed by the minister of foreign affairs and Mr. Nassif Sawiris, CEO of OCI group, a leading company in the field of hydrogen and energy. The group aimed to communicate with various parties involved in climate action and to explore ways to support the efforts to achieve the climate goals.
During the meeting, the foreign minister expressed his pride in the progress and achievements made during the Egyptian presidency of the climate conference, including the completion of the work of the transitional committee on the activation of new financing arrangements and the loss and damage fund. This fund represents an element of climate justice that contributes to the global efforts to confront climate change.
Minister Shoukry also reviewed several other successes, such as holding two investment events within the framework of the Sharm el-Sheikh work program to increase the ambition of mitigation and adaptation. These events aimed to overcome the obstacles to financing and to identify the investment opportunities and available solutions in this regard.
He also highlighted the activation of the Sharm el-Sheikh adaptation agenda during the COP27 conference to respond to the effects of climate change on the population around the world and to enhance adaptation and resilience in the fields of food, water, oceans, human settlements, health, and infrastructure.
The minister of foreign affairs expressed his hope that the group would contribute to the implementation of the agenda and stressed the need to exert more effort to reduce emissions, support adaptation, provide the means of implementation of technology and financial resources to developing countries, and accelerate the energy transition in a fair way that takes into account energy security and promotes sustainable development, through increasing investments in clean energy.
He expressed his support for the presidency of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in its efforts in this regard, stressing that multilateral action and international cooperation are the only way to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and to deal with the current climate crisis.
