Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt and UN Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, confirmed that this is the time for all countries, especially the developing countries and emerging markets, to adopt a holistic approach that links between the achievement of economic and social development in these countries and the achievement of climate action targets.
His remarks came during his speech via video in a webinar entitled “Climate and Development: Synergies and Trade Offs”, organized by Institute of National Planning, COP27 Presidency, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin and the World Bank Group, in partnership with the Center for Economic and Financial Research & Studies (CEFRS), the Economic Research Forum (ERF), and the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES).
Mohieldin said that compromising some of SDGs in order to achieve other goals will not lead to the success of the whole development process, explaining that achieving economic growth without transitioning to green economy will not be useful because of the negative impacts of climate change on resources and vital sectors that the economies of different countries depend on, on the other hand, climate action will not be useful if it deteriorates life standards and increases poverty and unemployment rates in different communities.
He highlighted that COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh prioritizes this holistic approach that aims to achieve SDGs as whole without making the achievement of one of these goal affects the tracks of achieving the other ones.
Mohieldin stated that the main problem that obstacles the achievement of economic and social development parallel to the achievement of climate targets is mobilizing the required climate action finances, saying that Sharm El Sheikh conference will discuss this considering that the pledges of the developed countries to finance climate action in the developing countries have not been fulfilled to the moment.
He stressed that the solution of the climate action obstacles headed by the finance shortage requires more depending on the role of scientific research centers in finding clear scientific solutions for climate action that help countries in setting their goals and priorities, and picking the most effective climate projects on the right scientific bases.
The climate champion referred to the centers of scientific researches and studies as one of the most important actors in the climate action, saying that the collaboration between these centers and the rest of the stakeholders including governments, business societies, NGOs and international development institutions will help achieving the climate action goals.
Mohieldin highlighted the necessity of linking the climate action scientific solutions to domestic priorities and the economic situations of different countries in order to get the best results of climate action in these communities.
