During launch events held on November 11, 2022, at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, a major package of support of over USD $150 million for adaptation was launched. The package was announced at a special session on “Advancing Adaptation Action in Africa” co-hosted by H.E. Sameh Shoukry, COP27 President, and United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry.
COP President Shoukry speaking at the events said: “The key challenge for African countries is to access funding for climate action. Recognizing that progress towards adapting to climate consequences and enhancing resilience is crucially needed, we launched a couple of days ago here at COP27 the Sharm-El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda. This agenda comprises a total of 30 global adaptation outcome targets by 2030 that are urgently needed to address the adaptation gap and increase the resilience of 4 billion people through accelerating transformation across five impact systems: food and agriculture, water and nature, coastal and oceans, human settlements, and infrastructure.”
COP27 President H.E, Shoukry further stated: “Egypt as COP27 President and as an African nation, is well aware of the adaptation challenges facing our continent, and we are pleased to have collaborated over the past year with the United States to develop a diverse package of support for Africa in the field of adaptation and resilience.”
As part of the US Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE), has seen the US double its Adaptation Fund Pledge to USD $100 million, and the Accelerating Adaptation in Africa initiative provides USD $150 million in support to accelerate PREPARE’s work across the continent.
The President of the United States of America also announced the launch of a new initiative to support Egypt in deploying 10GW of new wind and solar energy while decommissioning five GW of inefficient natural gas generation.
Special Envoy Kerry said: “We are completely committed to working together with our partners to support vulnerable communities in their efforts to, sadly, have to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Something that everyone whether in developed, developing or emerging economies are impacted by.”
“I wish to thank the United States for the extremely constructive collaboration we have had over the past year in developing this package, which demonstrates the commitment of both Egypt and the United States to the cause of adaptation in Africa and is indeed an exemplary representation of the COP27 mantra of implementation and action.” concluded COP27 President H.E. Shoukry.
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