Tag: 2022

The press release issued by COP27 on 10 November 2022.

COP27 makes history with first-ever Youth-led Climate Forum, Children and Youth Pavilion at COP and Youth Envoy

Young representatives from the Conference of the Youth present the Global Youth Statement, underlining key policy asks

Young Africa session reveals adaptation and funding as priorities for continent’s youth

Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 10 November 2022 – Ensuring that the voices of the young and future generation are heard is one of the key areas of focus of the COP27 Presidency, and the COP27 Youth and Future Generation Day sought to ensure that young people be part of the conversation.

The day kicked-off with an opening ceremony of the thematic day and youth-led climate forum, which brought together high-level policymakers with young representatives from the Conference of the Youth (COY17) to present the Global Youth Statement and underline the key policy asks compiled by the world’s youth for inclusion in the COP27 discussions and outcomes and drive climate ambition and implementation. Opening ceremony was attended by Ashraf Sobhy Minister of Youth and Sports of Egypt, Dr Yasmin Fouad Minister of Environment of Egypt, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Steill, High Level Climate Champion Mahmoud Mohie Eldin and senior representatives of the COP27 Presidency Team.

Youth represented their key demands that paid specific attention to: Action for Climate Empowerment, Adaptation and Resilience and Accessible Finance that were determined during COY17 which convened over 1,000 young people from more than 140 countries before the official opening of COP27, and following several rich local, national and regional conferences of youth.

“The impacts of climate change have significant effects on the health, nutrition, education and the future of young people, meanwhile youth stands to be the most impacted by the decisions we take at the climate process. Thus, they should be considered a natural ally and partner in driving climate action ,” said COP27 President H.E. Sameh Shoukry during his recent visit to the Children and Youth Pavilion. “Ensuring that the youth are represented and have a seat at the table is of absolute importance as it is their future lives and livelihoods that are directly impacted with the implementation of climate commitments” H.E. Shoukry added.

The COP27 Presidency has previously announced a number of steps pursuant to its commitment to ensuring the voices of youth and future generations are included by hosting the first ever Children and Youth Pavilion at a COP, the introduction of a Youth Envoy to the process, supporting COY17, launching the 1st ever Youth led-climate forum and aiming at removing some of the barriers that normally affect meaningful participation of young people at COPs.

Several sessions on Youth and Future Generation Day were programmed around providing an intergenerational platform for direct interaction between policymakers and representatives of the generation who will see the long-term effects of those policies in action decades from now.

With 200 million people aged 15 to 24, Africa has the largest population of young people in the world and the fastest growing youth population in the world. It is also the only region where the population of youth is increasing. The Young Africa session kicked off with results of a survey that was done with over 200 African youth, and showcased impressive youth-led solutions from Egypt and the rest of the continent. Critical to the continent realizing its sustainable development goals, the Young Africa session saw African youth experts, entrepreneurs and solution makers present their innovative activities and grassroots initiatives for climate adaptation and mitigation. The results showed that 64% found adaptation as a critical priority that needs to be addressed at COP this year, 84 percent would like to see ‘supporting funding for youth’ as a solution to their concerns. During the session, African youth experts, start-ups and entrepreneurs presented their grassroots initiatives for climate adaptation and mitigation in addition to innovative solutions using systematic and cross cutting approaches that tackle local challenges.

The impacts of climate change have significant effects on the health, nutrition, education and the future of children, adolescents and youth, who are the most vulnerable to extreme weather events, toxic chemicals, temperature changes and eco-anxiety. The session addressed the role of climate education for adolescents and children and its role in strengthening climate action and resilience of communities.

In the different sessions and functions, youth participants underlined the interrelationship between climate change and enjoyment of human rights by young people and the role of youth as a catalyst for ambition and climate justice and accountability. It was noted also that youth perspectives and needs should be effectively integrated in the design and implementation of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The discussions reflected the strong support by youth to establishing a financial mechanism focused on loss and damage, further movement towards just transition, and also for local adaptation and resilience solutions that are responsive to the needs of vulnerable communities. Quality education and green decent jobs were a cross cutting element in several discussions.

The COP27 Youth and Future Generation Day also helped to widen the narrative around Africa as a hub of opportunities and innovative solutions, and highlighted how youth are collaboratively driving action and change, including climate justice and intergenerational equity.

Through discussions throughout the day, challenges were highlighted creating a focus on what needs to be done to elevate the work led by youth to adapt to the climate crisis and enhance their potential in mitigating it.

The press release issued by COP27 on 9 November 2022.

The Finance Day was the first of the 11 Thematic Days of COP27. The day addressed several aspects of the climate finance ecosystem, including blended finance and innovative financial instruments, tools and policies to scale up and enhance access to climate finance, notably related to debt for environment swaps, and reducing the cost of green borrowing.

The day started with an opening speech by the Egyptian Prime Minister on the importance of cooperation between all stakeholders from the government, the private sector, and civil society, followed by a keynote by the host of the day, H.E. Dr. Mohamed Maait, The Egyptian Minister of Finance and by other high-level speeches on climate finance by the President of the World Bank, the Managing Director of the IMF, the UNDP Administrator, and the President of EBRD, among others.

Throughout the Day, numerous speakers from government, international and regional financial institutions and private sector took part to the discussions on the Presidency stage. Minister Maait of Egypt highlighted, during the Day, the importance of reducing the cost of green borrowing to encourage and support developing countries towards their transition to green economies. Accordingly, two flagship initiatives were launched by the Ministry of Finance: the ‘Reducing the cost of Green Borrowing’ initiative as well as the ‘Sustainable Debt Coalition’ initiative, which aim at facilitating the access to affordable green finance for climate positive initiatives in the developing world. This is expected to be a major area of focus for Finance Ministers during the next year and to generate an astounding economic output. In addition, the Day witnessed the launch of a third initiative: the Sharm El Sheikh Guidebook for Just Financing, by the Egyptian ministry of Internal Cooperation, which is a framework aiming to accelerate flows of climate finance – in particular towards developing economies.

Highlights of the finance day also include the meeting of The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, during which participants convened to discuss the role of Finance Ministers in climate action, as well as encouraging the development of economic policies and catalysing access to finance to facilitate the implementation of adaptation strategies. Another high point of the day was the “Voice of Africa” session, introduced by H.E. Dr. Hala El Said, Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic development, that brought together long-term investors and private sector representatives to showcase how institutional investors approach investing in green projects. The session “Financing Adaptation” was marked by the intervention of H.E. Min. Fouad, who insisted on the importance of finding conjoint solutions between private and public sector and particularly blended finance mechanisms to enable the implementation of adaptation plans and policies. Several announcements on how the GFANZ is moving into implementation with a particular focus on capacity building, blended finance and reporting standards met applause in the room.

Another landmark of the Day was the launch of the report “Finance or Climate action: scaling up investment for climate and development” issued by the “Independent High-Level Expert Group on Scaling up Investment and Finance to Deliver on Climate Ambition and Development Goals” that was mandated by the COP26 and COP27 Presidencies to help develop and put forward policy options and recommendations to encourage and enable the public and private investment and finance necessary for delivery of targets of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement.

Beyond Presidency events, numerous sessions dedicated to climate finance were held at the Egypt Pavilion. Among these, the announcement of the Egypt Climate Investment Plan and of the voluntary carbon market in Egypt, both in the presence of the Egyptian Prime Minister.

In parallel, the Green Zone also witnessed important events such as the “Climate Finance Instruments Innovation”, “An Open Dialogue: GFANZ members and local communities’ perspectives” and “Venture Capital Investment in Climate Action”. These events brought together highly visible private sector representatives and civil society to foster dialogue around the key themes tackled by finance day, completing the agenda of COP27 for this first Thematic Day.

Finance Day will be followed by the Youth & Science Days, both scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday November 10th, 2022. Youth Day will focus on enhancing youth participation in climate action, while Science Day will bring forward the most recent findings and recommendations of scientific institutions and discus the roles of science & academia in delivering efficient climate action.

The press release issued by COP27 on 9 November 2022.

• “Sharm El-Sheikh Guidebook for Just Financing” reduces the risk and uncertainty associated with climate investments
• The guidebook presents a realistic and implementable blueprint aimed at maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of the existing climate finance system to drive finance to where is is needed now

Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 10 November 2022 – The “Sharm El-Sheikh Guidebook for Just Financing” was launched during a panel discussion that took place during COP27’s Finance Day.  The Guidebook aims to translate commitments into implementable projects, while capturing opportunities to leverage and catalyze needed finance and investments to support climate action.

The Ministry of International Cooperation and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change collaborated on the “Sharm El-Sheikh Guidebook for Just Financing.” The guidebook aims to move efforts on finance beyond pledges into fostering inclusive partnerships towards a climate-resilient future.

The Panel discussion was moderated by HE Egypt Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Rania Al-Mashat and included the following speakers:

•  Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank (AfDB)
•  Sir Tony Blair, Executive Chairman, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
•  Mr. Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President, European Investment Bank (EIB)
•  Dr. Axel Van Trotsenburg, Managing Director of Operations, World Bank Group
•  Dr. Khalida Bouzar, Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the United Nations
•  Development Programme Regional Bureau for Arab State
•  Mr. Emmanuel Nyirinkindi, Vice- President of Cross-Cutting solutions, IFC
•  Mr. James Zhan, Director of Investment and Enterprise, UNCTAD
•  Mr. Jay Collins, Vice Chairman of Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory, Citi

The Guidebook defines “Just Financing”, as financing that accounts for historical responsibility for climate change while ensuring equitable access to quality and quantity climate financing that supports resilient development pathways leaving no one behind. It sets forth 12 core principles, that serve as a framework to guide stakeholders to adopt innovative climate finance modalities and instruments.  These will enable unlocking of needed financing from public and private capital providers to scale up and drive the transition required to address climate adaptation and mitigation goals.

The initiative reduces the risk and uncertainty associated with climate investments in developing countries by addressing the information gap for both national governments and investors. It also identifies key barriers to private investments and proposes solutions to overcome them. More importantly, the Guidebook maps climate capital providers based on their: access criteria, risk appetite, regional and sectoral focus, ticket size and financing instruments to address the limited access of developing countries to climate funds. It also proposes a set of innovative financing models that can leverage the unique capabilities and interests of different pools of capital to finance impactful climate projects.  It was highlighted that even in many of the most challenging geographies and sectors successful projects that can be replicated and upscaled.

The COP27 Presidency said: “The Sharm El-Sheikh Guidebook for Just Financing concludes with an actionable agenda for each stakeholder that lists the roles they could play to achieve just financing outcomes. It presents a realistic and implementable blueprint aimed at maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of the existing climate finance system in the short run, while rethinking the international architecture in the medium and long-term.”

The second segment of the panel included interventions from the following experts:

• Mr. Bo Li, Deputy Managing Director, IMF
• Dr. Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) / Brookfield Asset Management
• Mr. Rémy Rioux, Chief Executive Officer, AFD
• Mr. Mark Bowman, Vice President for Policy and Partnerships, EBRD
• Ms. Elizabeth Yee, Executive Vice President of Programs, Rockefeller Foundation
• Ms. Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO, SEforALL

The Guidebook was conceptualized in September 2021 during the first edition of Egypt – International Cooperation Forum (Egypt – ICF) where developing and emerging economies underscored the dual challenge of climate change to their right to development. It also emphasized the pivotal role of the private sector in unlocking technical and financial resources at scale. The idea was further enhanced during COP26 in Glasgow with the enthusiasm around Egypt’s proposal for creating an international framework for Just Financing.

The press release issued by COP27 on 9 November 2022.

• Opening Session addresses “Climate Finance in a Polycrisis Era”
• Program of 26 events spotlights implementation, and just and equitable transition in Africa
• Finance Ministers reflect on commitment to climate action and financing for loss and damage
• Launch of COP27 Presidency Reducing the Cost of Sustainable Borrowing initiative

Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 9 November 2022 – The pressing issue of climate finance kicked off COP27’s Thematic Days Agenda by reiterating it as a cornerstone for implementing climate action to save lives and livelihoods around the world.

In the first of 11 themed days at COP27, Finance Day addressed several aspects of the climate finance ecosystem, including innovative and blended finance and financial instruments, tools and policies that have the potential to enhance access, scale up finance and contribute to the transition envisaged and needed, including those related to debt for environment swaps.

“Financing underpins the development of an energy transition pathway for Africa, but the unsustainable levels of public debt countries are managing acts as a block on advancing necessary climate initiatives,” said COP27 President H.E. Sameh Shoukry.

Finance Day featured a robust program of 26 events including a Ministerial roundtable and saw the launch of the Reducing the Cost of Sustainable Borrowing initiative.

It is estimated that the world will require between $4 trillion and $7 trillion per year, to shift towards sustainable development and meet agreed Paris Agreement targets, and today’s events enabled further cooperation to help close that gap. The sessions aimed to bring together all stakeholders involved in the climate agenda – from the public and private sectors to philanthropic entities, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and the UN bodies, with the view to crafting an inclusive and just financing roadmap that supports the global South in implementing their adaptation and mitigation plans and renewing the commitment of developed nations to provide the necessary funding to “Leave No One Behind”.

At the opening ceremony, Egyptian Prime Minister H.E. Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, spoke to the significance of Finance Day, featuring an intensive program that included the discussion of topics that encourage the finance sector to assist the transformation to a sustainable economy and expressed hope that the conversations would be translated into serious commitments for finance adaptation. During the panel discussion, Climate Finance in a Polycrisis Era, key themes including innovative finance, financing just transition, sovereign debt for sustainability and climate change, and the role of the private sector in mobilizing resources were addressed. Private finance was highlighted as essential to deliver trillions of dollars needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees and ambition, action and accountability identified as critical to unlocking finance.

Access to low-cost finance was further addressed, with pragmatic solutions, deals, commitments, and pledges to reduce the cost of green loans. Discussions also involved adaptation plans and increasing the bankability and attractiveness to investors of adaptability projects.

During the day, several panels took place including:

• Mobilizing Finance for Climate Action, wherein the key takeaway was a call for the doubling of finance compared to 2019 levels in 2025 by making the commitment for developed countries to step up financing so that developing countries to be reassured that no one will be left behind.

Reducing Cost of Green Borrowing, which showcased solutions and pledges needed to reduce the cost of green loans.

• High-Level Dialogue CIF Force of Nature: Closing the Finance Gap for Nature-Based Solutions that discussed sustainable agriculture and forest management, including measures such as agroforestry that could deliver over $2 trillion annually in economic benefits, generate millions of jobs in developing countries and improve food security.
• Special Role of MDBs/Commercial Banks/Philanthropies in Climate Finance, which reaffirmed that multi-lateral development banks, in spite of institutional challenges, are by far the most effective intermediaries in mobilizing and allocating resources that will benefit the poorest countries.

The sessions provided a chance for Finance Ministers from the parties to reassert their commitments to climate action, along with a call to acknowledge and commit finance for loss and damage. The day concluded with COP27 facilitating a meeting of the heads of the African sovereign wealth funds, helping to mobilise investments and public private partnerships for increasing climate action.

The press release issued by COP27 on 9 November 2022.

• COP President H.E. Sameh Shoukry spoke to global youth at a tour of the Children and Youth Pavillion
• The Children and Youth Pavillion is the first of its kind at a COP providing space for talks and events to enable young people to come together to push for climate action

Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 9 November 2022 – COP27 President H.E. Sameh Shoukry today addressed crowds at the Child & Youth Pavilion at COP27 following a tour of the Pavilion.

Speaking at the Children & Youth Pavilion COP27 President H.E. Sameh Shoukry urged youth to speak out:

“I depend on your voices.  It is your future that we are supposed to be here to guarantee. And it is only through your voices, your advocacy and your inspiration that you will have be able to enjoy your right to take full advantage of the earth, the forests and the air and to live a long and prosperous future on our beautiful planet once government’s undertake their responsibilities.  You are the future and it is your voice that will help deliver it.”

Following his address the COP27 President received a petition from young people campaigning for loss and damage funding which following negotiations at the outset of the COP.

The first of its kind Children & Youth Pavilion provides a place for young people to engage, debate and collaborate to make their voice heard at the COP.  Activity includes: initiative launches, talks and events for the under 35’s.  Free meeting rooms and coffee also help young people to get together for implementation at COP27.

The Egypt COP Presidency has taken a number of steps to ensure that the youth constituency is playing a key role in COP27.  Steps include: the first ever Youth Climate Pavilion and Youth-led Climate Forum, the creation of a full Young and Future Generations Day co-created and implemented with YOUNGO, and the establishment of a COP27 Presidency Youth Envoy, Dr. Omnia El Omrani.

As part of another youth initiative the Youth-led Climate Forum will be presenting key findings of a policy paper that will be introduced via two roundtables on the Young Future Generations Day on November 10 at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh. For the first time ever, this youth statement will find its way to the COP Presidency’s Action Agenda where youth representatives, Ministers and negotiators will discuss the expectations and the demands agreed by the youth activists.