Egypt to prioritise finance, 2030 goals at Cop 27

The Egyptian presidency of UN climate summit Cop 27 will prioritise finance and mitigation as negotiations begin ahead of the event in November, and will push countries to set more ambitious emissions reduction targets for 2030.

"We emphasize the urgency of action required to address the gaps in ambition across mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and finance, and the importance of responding to the best available science in this respect," the Egyptian Cop 27 president Sameh Shoukry and UK Cop 26 president Alok Sharma said in a joint statement after meeting this weekend.

The UK and Egypt will work together to encourage countries to "revisit and strengthen their 2030 emissions target to align with Paris temperature goals", in reference to the goal to limit global warming to 1.5C from pre-industrial levels by 2050.

Many countries have set 2050 targets for reducing emissions or reaching net-zero but have been reluctant to set more ambitious targets for 2030. This indicates that diplomatic efforts in the run up to Cop 27 will focus on getting those countries' whose pathways are not in line with 1.5C goal — including China, Russia and India — to commit to action to reduce emissions this decade. There was no mention of fossil fuels or phasing out coal in the joint statement but the IEA's pathway for achieving 2050 climate goals suggests a coal phase-out in rich countries by 2030 and in poorer countries by 2040 is essential.

Germany, the new president of the G7, has made "energy and climate partnerships" with countries that are heavily dependent on fossil fuels one of its priorities. This could indicate more deals similar to the one signed with South Africa last year which commit to funding from richer countries in return for an agreement to phase out coal, but these deals are not part of the formal Cop summit agreements.

Sharma also met today with the UAE climate envoy Sultan al Jaber, who will likely be the Cop 28 president in 2023, to discuss "the energy transition and green jobs".

By Eleanor Green