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COP27: Biden arrives in Egypt to push climate action, talks human rights with President Sisi
COP27: Biden arrives in Egypt to push climate action, talks human rights with President Sisi
The US president looks likely to raise the case of Alaa Abdel Fattah and other political prisoners during his short stop-off at the climate summit.
7 min read
US President Joe Biden will arrive at the COP27 conference on Friday where delegates expect him to try to pump up global ambition to fight climate change.
His visit is the first stop in a packed week-long trip to grapple with some of the United States' thorniest foreign policy issues.
Biden's speech in Sharm El-Sheikh will remind countries to stay focused on the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. He will also discuss the importance of public-private partnership and detail US efforts to decarbonise and lower methane emissions.
Among announcements likely timed for his arrival, the United States and the European Union plan to make a joint announcement pledging to crack down on methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Washington and Brussels already have proposals to do this, but the declaration is meant to encourage other countries to do the same, building on the Global Methane Pledge to slash methane emissions by 30% this decade.
Biden will have a bilateral meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on Friday during his short stopover to attend the COP27 summit, and he "will never shy away from raising human rights with foreign leaders," an official told journalists earlier this week.
The official said Biden was concerned about the health of British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has been on a hunger strike at the Wadi El-Natrun prison.
Fears are mounting that Abdel Fattah is being force-fed to keep him alive while international attention fixes on Egypt for the climate summit.
Abdel Fattah is one of tens of thousands of Egyptians held as political prisoners since Sisi seized power of the country in a military coup in 2013.
Anti-government protests that will take aim at Egypt's deteriorating economic and human rights situations are planned for Friday. Egyptian security forces have detained scores of activists in the lead-up to the demonstrations.
(Reuters, The New Arab)
6:10 PM
4:55 PM
Biden raises human rights in talks with Egypt's Sisi: White House
US President Joe Biden raised the issue of human rights in a meeting on Friday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during the COP27 climate summit, the White House said.
"The president raised the importance of human rights and respect for fundamental freedoms," the White House said in a statement. Biden and Sisi reaffirmed their commitment to tackling the climate change crisis and discussed a range of issues including the war in Ukraine and food security, it said.
4:35 PM
Biden says 'life of the planet' at stake in climate crisis
US President Joe Biden told the COP27 conference Friday the "very life of the planet" is at stake in the climate crisis as he gave an assurance that the United States is on track to slash carbon emissions.
"The climate crisis is about human security, economic security, environmental security, national security and the very life of the planet," he told an audience at the conference in Egypt.
Biden, who was spending only a few hours in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh before travelling on to ASEAN and G20 summits in Asia, challenged other countries to do more to cut carbon emissions in the hope of bringing global warming under control.
"Every nation needs to step up. At this gathering, we must renew and raise our climate ambitions," he said in a speech that lasted about 22 minutes and was briefly interrupted by unidentified people in the crowd making howling noises.
2:20 PM
Biden arrives in Egypt for COP27 climate crisis summit
President Joe Biden arrived Friday in Egypt to attend the COP27 climate conference, with the White House touting "unprecedented" US steps to combat the planetary crisis.
Biden, due to spend only a few hours in Sharm el-Sheikh before continuing his journey to ASEAN and G20 summits in Asia, was also meeting his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
The White House said Biden's speech to the climate conference would "discuss our efforts to build on the unprecedented work by the United States to reduce emissions, advance the global climate fight and help the most vulnerable build resilience to climate impacts."
12:55 PM
Italian rights activist denied entry to Egypt for COP27
An Italian human rights activist travelling to Egypt for the COP27 summit was denied entry to the country, an Egyptian rights group said Thursday.
Egyptian authorities denied entry to Giorgio Caracciolo, who is Deputy Director for International Programs at the Danish Institute for the Prevention of Torture (DIGNITY) and a member of the executive committee of EuroMed Rights, after he landed at Cairo International Airport, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said.
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Caracciolo was due to meet "Egyptian human rights defenders and officials from various governments attending COP27", the group said.
"Egyptian authorities did not provide him with a reason for revoking his visa and denying him entry," they added.
12:20 PM
Mona Seif 'furious' with UK government as brother Alaa Abdel Fattah left in Egyptian detention
The sister of jailed British-Egyptian national Alaa Abdel Fattah has hit out at the UK government for failing to secure his release from Egyptian detention.
Abdel Fattah, an author, activist and software developer serving a five-year jail sentence on charges of spreading false news, has been on a hunger strike since April to protest the condition of his detention.
He embarked on a water strike on 6 November, the first day of the COP27 climate summit.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi earlier this week and said he would continue to press the Egyptian government to release Abdel Fattah.
However, the dual national continues to languish in Egyptian detention, and fears are mounting that he is being force-fed.
Speaking to BBC News, Mona Seif said she was "disappointed and furious" that Rishi Sunak had failed to at least secure definitive information about Abdel Fattah’s condition.
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"What I’m most disappointed and furious with is that our Prime Minister Rishi Sunak went to Sharm El-Sheikh, shook hands with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the president of Egypt… yes he raised Alaa’s case, but he returned without even managing to secure consular access or to get us proof of life," Self said.
She also condemned the UK government for conducting trade deals with Egypt while Cairo continues to jail and torture political prisoners like Abdel Fattah.
"The trade deals, the business deals between Britain and Egypt are continuing very smoothly despite the fact that they are holding a British citizen, exposing him to all sorts of violations… and practically pushing him to death," she said.
9:37 AM
Future climate cash must come from bigger group of nations, says Germany
The list of countries who pay towards helping poorer countries cope with climate change should be updated, Germany's climate envoy said on Friday, indicating that countries like China should be included to reflect their economic growth.
In 2009, developed countries promised that by 2020 they would transfer $100 billion per year to vulnerable states hit by increasingly severe climate-linked impacts and disasters. That goal is expected to be reached next year, three years late.
Even before they have achieved that goal, countries are discussing how the next target will be set for climate finance after 2025. Who pays into it is under discussion at COP27, the annual United Nations climate change summit currently being held in Egypt.
The list of contributors is currently based on a 1992 framework that classes China, the world's second-largest economy, as a developing country.
"I think it's very clear that we are now in 2022," Jennifer Morgan said, in response to a question about whether China should in future also be one of the countries that contributes. Morgan did not make specific reference to China.
"The world has fundamentally changed. And so we would expect that the convention and the rules here and who pays would also adjust to the fact that there is thankfully... much more wealth in a number of emerging economies," she said, speaking at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.
China and other emerging economies maintain that wealthy nations developed using carbon-intensive industries over centuries which led to the climate crisis.
(Reuters)
4:35 PM
Biden says 'life of the planet' at stake in climate crisis
US President Joe Biden told the COP27 conference Friday the "very life of the planet" is at stake in the climate crisis as he gave an assurance that the United States is on track to slash carbon emissions.
"The climate crisis is about human security, economic security, environmental security, national security and the very life of the planet," he told an audience at the conference in Egypt.
Biden, who was spending only a few hours in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh before travelling on to ASEAN and G20 summits in Asia, challenged other countries to do more to cut carbon emissions in the hope of bringing global warming under control.
"Every nation needs to step up. At this gathering, we must renew and raise our climate ambitions," he said in a speech that lasted about 22 minutes and was briefly interrupted by unidentified people in the crowd making howling noises.
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