Since 1992 every country in the world has been treaty bound to avoid taking actions that contribute further to the precarious state of our planet brought about by climate change and to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Each year since then countries’ representatives have met at the UN Climate Change Conference or 'Convention of the Parties' (COP).

Initially COP was seen as only being of interest to a dedicated few who enjoyed the minutiae of policy documents and the annual convention rarely made the mainstream media other than following the COPs in Copenhagen in 2009 and in Paris in 2015. And it was the Paris convention that was pivotal in pushing climate change way up the political and social agendas; countries committed to hold global heating to no more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Since then the annual COP has gained far more media attention and governments are now being held accountable by their citizens.

The 27^th iteration of the COP event will take place in Egypt later this year at Sharm El Sheikh, so the eyes of the world are on the Egypt and the African continent.

The Egypt Presidency at COP27 has outlined Egypt’s goals and vision for the Convention as follows

Mitigation
There is a need to limit global warming to well below 2°C and keep the 1.5°C target alive. This requires bold and immediate actions and raising the ambition from all parties.

COP27 will be a moment for countries to fulfil their pledges and commitments towards delivering the objectives of the Paris Agreement to enhance the implementation of the Convention.

This year should witness the implementation of the Glasgow pact call to review ambition in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and create a work program for ambition on mitigation.

Adaptation
The Global Goal on Adaptation was one of the significant outcomes of COP26 and COP27 must achieve the required progress. All parties are urged to demonstrate the necessary political in order to enhance resilience and assist the most vulnerable communities.

Beyond the global goal on Adaptation, COP27 should witness the enhanced global agenda for action on adaptation, confirming what was agreed on in Paris and further elaborated on in the Glasgow pact with regard to placing adaptation at the forefront of global action.

Finance
In COP27 it is essential that significant progress is made on the crucial issue of climate finance while moving forward on all related items on the agenda.

The importance of adequacy and predictability of climate finance is key to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, to this end there is a need for enhanced transparency of finance flows and facilitated access to meet the needs of developing countries specially in Africa, least developed countries (LDCs), and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Progress on delivery of the annual USD 100 billion will build more trust between developed and developing countries, showing that actual commitments are being fulfilled.

Collaboration
The UN negotiations are consensus-based, and reaching agreement requires inclusive and active participation from all stakeholders.

The Presidency is working to ensure adequate representation and participation from all relevant stakeholders in COP27, especially vulnerable communities and representatives from countries in the African region who are increasingly affected by the impacts of climate change.

Governments, the private sector and civil society need to work, in tandem, to transform the way in which we interact with our planet. We must introduce new solutions and innovations that help alleviate the adverse impacts of climate change. We also need to replicate and rapidly upscale all other climate-friendly solutions towards implementation in developing countries.

The advancement of partnership and collaboration will help deliver the four goals and ensure the world is adopting more a resilient, and sustainable economic model where humans are at the centre of climate talks.