Egypt to become one of the first nations to announce new climate targets ahead of UN summit

Egypt is to issue a new national target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming weeks, according to Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, as the country prepares to lead global climate negotiations as the host of a United Nations summit in November.

At the COP26 United Nations summit in Glasgow last year, governments pledged to revise and improve their 2030 climate targets in time for the COP27 meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

According to David Waskow, a director of the non-profit World Resources Institute who follows the negotiations, virtually no government has presented an upgraded aim since Glasgow.

Egypt may be one of the earliest. Shoukry, who is also the president of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP27), asked all countries to submit their revised targets, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and to take more action to combat climate change.

‘Hopefully within a few weeks, Egypt will announce its amended NDCs,’ he stated.

‘I hope that when our new NDCs are released, others will pay attention to what we will display in terms of ambition and commitment.’

Egypt, according to Waskow, has fallen behind other countries in submitting climate targets. Egypt’s most recent NDC was submitted in 2017 and it missed the deadline for COP26 last year.

Waskow believes that, depending on what the new aim says, it could still be useful in motivating others to act.

‘It’s beneficial for (Egypt) to begin the ball rolling and, hopefully, set an essential landmark for what countries must do,’ Waskow said.

Shoukry spoke with Alok Sharma, the president of COP26, from the United Kingdom, at the end of two days of meetings between ministers from over 40 nations to discuss progress toward reaching climate commitments.

Last year’s Glasgow climate agreement, Sharma said, was a ‘fragile win.’ Countries must now follow through on agreements, he said, if there is any possibility of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, the point at which climate change becomes significantly worse.