“DISASTER-HIT NATIONS NEED ACTION, NOT NICE SPEECHES”
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, referred to as COP27, is being held from November 6 to 18 at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. With the devastating impact of climate change already being felt, COP27 will focus on implementation, whether it is adaptation, mitigation or building resilience. Finance and technology are crucial, with developed countries not meeting their targets to provide adaptation funds and the private sector yet to move in a big way to cash in on green projects. Economist
Dr MAHMOUD MOHIELDIN, a former Egyptian minister and former senior vice president at the World Bank, is the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, whose focus is on getting nonstate actors, particularly corporate houses, to invest in green technologies in a big way that could turn the tide in the fight to save the planet. On a recent visit to Delhi, Mohieldin spoke to Group Editorial Director RAJ CHENGAPPA on his priorities. Excerpts:
Q. What would you like COP27 to achieve when it meets in November at Sharm El-Sheikh?
A. Adaptation to climate change needs to be the winner at COP27. This would need finance, investment and projects to be highlighted. This is an implementation summit that needs to come up with practical solutions for disaster risk management. Unfortunately, when it comes to loss and damage funds, the issue is lost in endless discussions. I hope this will be tackled properly by the state actors in their negotiations. Otherwise, the role of non-state actors, who are a catalyst force and whom I represent, would be very much constrained.
Q. Pakistan was devastated by floods recently; other developing nations have also been hit by freak weather patterns. What can the international community do to compensate for the loss?
A. Two things. One, we need to recognise the importance of the loss and mobilise funds to help these countries. Secondly, we must expedite work in mitigation in order to reduce emissions and to do more on resilience to minimise the impact of such disasters. Developing countries cannot afford to do it on their own. It calls for international cooperation. It will not be solved by nice speeches but by action on supplying finance and technology and improving capacity development.
Q. Developed countries had committed $100 billion annually for adaptation funds. Yet most reports say they have not even met half their commitments. Is it game over for the world?
A. COP27 needs to ensure that developed countries meet their commitments. But we must realise that even if the full $100 billion is delivered, that would still be no more than three per cent of what is
THE UKRAINE WAR HAS ALSO DIVERSIFIED ENERGY SOURCES BY INVESTMENT IN WIND, SOLAR AND GREEN HYDROGEN
required. Post 2025, we need to get them to commit to multiple times the amount. The most conservative annual figure for climate action is around $2.5 trillion and we need to recognise this challenge. The heavy lifting of finance is still coming from the public sector. The assets from states have to be transferred into investable funds. For that, we are creating a pipeline of projects to benefit from this kind of interest of the financial sector, to be presented at COP27.
Q. So you believe that private investment must help fill the gap?
A. Yes, but we are not asking for charity. We are after the golden rule—that there is risk, there is cost and there is decent return. Solar, wind and green hydrogen has great interest for the business community, including in India. We will share some ideas about debt reduction mechanisms, including a new generation of debts for climate swaps that will allow opportunities for investment based on the Nationally Determined Commitments. In India, I held discussions related to the creation of carbon credit markets.
Q. How have Covid and the Ukraine war affected climate change goals?
A. Covid has been a huge setback for all sustainable development goals by impacting investment and human capital in sectors like health and education. It affected poverty alleviation measures. The Ukraine war compounded the crisis. Morally speaking, the war should end. Its impact has seen countries fall back upon old means of energy, especially coal. But it has also helped diversify energy sources through investments in wind power, solar energy and green hydrogen.
Q. What are you going to champion in COP27?
A. Developing countries expect us to deliver on climate action regarding mitigation, adaptation, damage and finance, but at the same time putting in a framework to deal with unemployment. For the first time since 1998, based on UN figures, we have numbers of the extremely poor increasing. So, we will not welcome climate action that will compromise the labour market or add to the numbers of the poor. We have the technological solutions and the means of production to pursue a high, inclusive growth that would create more job opportunities. For this. we need partnerships and coordination of our efforts.