Egypt promises to allow protest, push pledges as COP27 host

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, also the incoming president of the next Conference of the Parties to be held in Egypt, says the focus will be on making sure countries implement their climate pledges

DAVOS, Switzerland -- Egypt, host of the next United Nations summit on climate change, will push countries to make good on their pledges to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions, facilitate “non-adversarial” talks on compensation to developing countries for global warming impacts and allow climate activists to protest, said the incoming president of COP27.

In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who is also the president-designate of the next annual Conference of the Parties, to be held in November in the Red Sea resort city Sharm El-Sheikh, called the overall goal “implementation.”

Shoukry said the last summit, held last year in Glasgow, Scotland, finalized many commitments made during the Paris Agreement in 2015, which aimed to reduce emissions aimed at limiting global warming to 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times.

“The commitments and the pledges now have to be implemented in all sectors of the climate change agenda, whether it’s in adaptation, mitigation or finance, loss and damage,” said Shoukry, who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.