Climate action will be useless if it leads to higher rates of poverty and unemployment: Mohieldin

COP٢٧ focuses on providing solutions that make climate action help solving community problems and crises, not to add to them, the UN Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt and UN Special Envoy on Financing ٢٠٣٠ Sustainable Development Agenda, Mahmoud Mohieldin said.

These remarks came during his lecture in Green Economy Forum, within the Green Economy Ambassadors initiative launched by Sadat University, with the participation of Dr Khaled Gafar, the university president.

Not ignoring current crises

Mohieldin stated that the conference aims to implement climate action without ignoring the current crises in the world such as the rise of fuel and food prices, and the increase of poverty rates, especially after COVID-١٩ and the war in Ukraine.

«Climate action will be useless if it leads to higher rates of poverty and unemployment.» Mohieldin said, stressing the necessity of adopting a holistic approach that links achieving climate targets to the achievement of the other SDGs.

He emphasized that climate action should not be shortened to emissions reduction, but it should also include adapting to climate change, dealing with losses and damages, and mobilizing sufficient finance for all climate action aspects.

The climate champion confirmed that there will not be a room in COP٢٧ for more pledges and promises without having a specific framework of implementing them on the ground through the concerted efforts of governments, international organizations, private sector, NGOs, companies, universities and research centers.

Two unprecedented initiatives

Mohieldin said that COP٢٧ prioritizes enhancing the regional and local dimensions of climate action through two unprecedented initiatives which are the five regional roundtables initiative that have been coordinated with the UN and resulted in ٤٠٠ regional projects all over the world in which ٥٠ of them will be showcased in Sharm El Sheikh to start the actual implementation.

The second initiative, according to Mohieldin, is the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects launched by Egypt government, he clarified that the initiative will be presented in COP٢٧ as a model for localizing development and climate action.