Egypt’s UN Climate Change High Level Champion Mahmoud Mohi Al-Din said that 2,500 NSAs from more than 100 countries participated in the Race to Resilience Campaign with the aim of building resilience of vulnerable urban, rural, and coastal communities.
He added during his participation on Tuesday in the Climate Innovation Forum alongside London’s Climate Action Week, that 10,000 NSAs from more than 100 countries are also participating in the Race to Zero Campaign, which targets halving greenhouse gasses by 2030.
Furthermore, he underscored some positive indices regarding climate change, saying that investing in climate tech increased by 210% y-o-y in FY2020/21, with EVs — which displaced 1.5m barrels per day of oil last year — being the primary recipient.
In this context, Mohi Al-Din referred to an International Energy Agency report that revealed that global energy investment is set to increase by 8% in 2022 to reach $2.4 trillion mainly from the clean energy sector in advanced economies and China.
He also emphasised that despite these positive indices, climate action is still far from what it should be in relation to current global challenges, including the surge in energy and food prices, rising inflation, difficult geopolitics, and clashes between developed and developing countries over who should pay and who should cut emissions.
He asserted that these challenges require scaling up work and cooperation in order to keep the 1.5°C target for global warming within reach to accelerate adaptation, secure finance delivery for mitigation and adaptation, and mobilise the private sector and other NSAs’ efforts and investments in climate action.
“The cost of climate inaction is becoming the biggest threat to economic growth. Solutions require public and private collaboration in financing and implementation. Businesses, banks, and investors who made commitments by joining Race to Zero, Race to Resilience, and the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero must show tangible examples of action at the 27th UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP 27) that will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh.”
Mohi Al-Din also referred to the five regional finance roundtables that will be held by the Egyptian presidency of the COP 27 and UN Economic Commissions before the conference itself, explaining that the aim of these meetings is to put climate projects, fundings, and investments on one table.
