Egypt is launching an unprecedented initiative to catalyse investments in different climate sectors by holding five regional roundtables over the coming two months ahead of the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El Sheikh. Under the initiative, the North African country will put up climate projects, investors, companies, international financing institutions, development banks and other stakeholders at one table with the aim of actually implementing projects that help achieve climate action goals. These remarks released on Sunday by the office of the UN Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt. Egypt will organise the roundtables in cooperation with UN regional committees and UN high level climate champions, said the statement. The first roundtable will take place in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa as the home of the UN regional economic committee for Africa on August 2-4. For the second roundtable, it will be hosted by Bangkok on August 25 for the Asia-Pacific region, the third roundtable will take place in Santiago on September 1-2 for Latin America and the Caribbean. Beirut will host the Arab world roundtable on September 15, while Geneva will host the last roundtable on September 20 for Europe. The outcomes of the five meetings will be announced during COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh by next November. The initiative aims to discuss investment opportunities in the sectors of food, water, irrigation, increasing agricultural productivity, new and renewable sources of energy and its infrastructure, said Mahmoud Mohieldin, the 7th High-Level Champion for Climate Action for COP27. Additionally, the initiative will tackle the digital transformation of those sectors in a way that helps in implementing climate projects on the ground, achieving climate goals and providing job opportunities in the five regions, Mohieldin added. The Addis Ababa's roundtable will be titled "Towards COP27: African Regional Forum on Climate Initiatives to Finance Climate Action and the SDGs," with high level Egyptian participation, including Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad, International Cooperation Minister Rania Al-Mashat, and Egyptian Exchange chairman Mohamed Farid.
