Cairo, 2 August 2022— A workshop recently held in Cairo under the aegis of the forthcoming 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference Partners (COP27) saw participants drawing up action points ahead of the big event slated for Sharm El-Sheikh from 6 to 8 November 2022.

These were: creating a partnership for a sustainable cities initiative to be launched during COP27; identifying initial workstreams for the initiative, including energy efficiency, resilient and low carbon buildings, waste, urban mobility and urban water management and setting guidelines for the interaction of the private sector and other stakeholders with the initiative.

The COP27 Presidency of Egypt is engaging in more discussions on climate action. The recent Cairo workshop was one of them and was held in collaboration with UN-Habitat)and facilitated by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability to think of an initiative to promote sustainable cities.

“It is now clearer than ever, multilevel collaboration is the only way that we can hope to respond in this age of our climate emergency,” Kobie Brand, Deputy Secretary General and Regional Director for Africa, ICLEI, commented. “We need to ensure that multilevel action is now the new normal for the next phase of the Paris Agreement. We need to seize urban opportunities for bold action in cities and regions,"

Ayman Tharwat Amin, Deputy Director of the Department of Climate, Environment and Sustainable Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egypt, highlighted the participatory and inclusive approach that COP27 was adopting in developing initiatives on the way to Sharm El-Sheikh. He further emphasised that cities, their population and infrastructure were especially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, which highlights the importance of the particular initiative and the need for an implementation-focused COP.

Others taking part in the workshop included UN agencies, civil society organizations, the climate champions network, think tanks, researchers and city leaders. It underscored the need to bridge global policy to city actions and support city governments in building their capacity to improve climate change mitigation. The attendees also contributed to the action points of the initiative on sustainable cities.

“This year, local climate action is one of UN-Habitat’s priority themes,” Erfan Ali, UN-Habitat Regional Representative for the Aran States, stated. “COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh will be a great opportunity to highlight and advance the local climate action agenda and strengthen the alignment of climate action with sustainable urban development.”