Sharm El Sheikh Adaptation Agenda aims to achieve resilience for 4 billion people by 2030: Mohieldin

CAIRO - 13 December 2022: Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt and UN Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, stressed that climate action is one of sustainable development goals and it's implementation -therefore- is an investment that help achieving sustainable development.

 

His remarks came during his participation in the 21st annual conference of the Arab Administrative Development Organization (ARADO) held in Oman under the title of "Sustainability of resources in light of climate change and ways to reduce its effects".

 

Mohieldin emphasized that climate change affects growth, financial stability and economic development, and that the improper transition to decarbonization has its negative impacts, explaining that the international finance organizations approved that climate issues became significantly important for the global economy, while the IMF worked on merging climate action among its main work fields in terms of supervision, financing, researches and capacity building.

 

"Achieving SDGs including climate targets requires accurate and up to date data, suitable finance in which different financing sources integrate, and implementation efficiency on the level of institutions and policies." Mohieldin said.

 

The climate champion stated that COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh made many results in all fields of climate action. For loss and damage, the conference approved for the first time the necessity of committing to provide climate finance through establishing Loss and Damage Fund that aims to help the developing countries to face the impacts of climate change and the resulting natural and human losses and damages.

 

In the field of adaptation, Mohieldin explained that the Sharm El-Sheikh conference discussed issues of food, water and energy security and referred to them in the text of the decisions issued by the official negotiations in light of the current global challenges. participants also agreed on the need to produce healthy, nutritious and sustainable food that is able to withstand environmental changes, beside adding the water file for the first time to the sectors eligible for climate finance.

 

Mohieldin referred in this context to Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda that have been launched by Egypt presidency of COP27 and UN HLCs, the agenda aims to achieve resilience for 4 billion people by 2030 through globally achieving 30 adaptation outcomes in five main work axis which are food and agriculture, water and nature, coasts and oceans, human settlements, and infrastructures, with working on providing required financing and planning.

 

Mohieldin highlighted the initiative of the Early Warning System announced by Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General, as one of COP27 achievements in the field of adaptation with 301$ billions of annual investments from 2023 to 2027, adding that the conference also witnessed the announcement of Nairobi Declaration that aims to provide 14$ billions of financing facilities to improve adaptation measures in Africa against different kinds of natural catastrophe.

 

Regarding climate action financing, Mohieldin said that COP27 called for revising the global finance system to be more fair and efficient and provide required financing, he referred also to the "Mobilizing Finance for Climate Action"report issued during the conference, which includes many important recommendations that help pushing forward the climate finance.

 

He added that five regional roundtables that have been held to mobilize finance for climate projects, adding that the results of these roundtables have been showcased in COP27. He stated that the conference highlighted debt swaps as a new and innovative solution for climate action financing and easing debt burdens in the developing countries, with showcasing successful models of debt swaps on KPIs basis.

 

He stressed that carbon markets appeared at the conference as one of the innovative ways to mobilize financing for climate action and reduce emissions, referring to the launch of the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative during the conference. He stated that green washing file received a big attention as a report was issued by a high-level group of experts commissioned by the UN Secretary General to set the rules for non-state actors including corporations, investors, cities and territories to deliver their promises of achieving net zero emissions.

 

Mohieldin referred to the proposal of 1 percent for 1.5 degrees, which aims to increase climate-related financing and investments by expanding the scope of concessional financing conditions to include middle-income countries in addition to low-income countries, while setting interest rates that do not exceed 1 percent including the cost of contributing to technical aspects and improving capacities, and granting a grace period of no less than ten years and a repayment period of twenty years, including contribution to the technical aspects.