The upcoming 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) will present public health priorities in light of sustainable development plans, a UN envoy announced on Tuesday.
“It is important to connect the priorities of climate action with the world’s challenges related to health,” said Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for Egypt, in a press release.
Mohieldin, who also serves as UN special envoy on financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, made the appeal during the 69th session of the World Health Organization Conference on the Eastern Mediterranean held in Cairo late Monday.
Contributing about 4.4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the health sector should take environmental considerations into account, Mohieldin said.
“Harmful emissions are increasing by about 14 percent, a marked deviation from the target of reducing it to no less than 45 percent by 2030 by international pledges,” he added.
COP27, which is scheduled for Nov. 6-18 in Egypt’s coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh, will focus on ensuring the implementation of the 2030 UN Agenda and reducing the public health consequence of high temperatures, harmful emissions and malnutrition, said Mohieldin.
Highlighting the significance to provide the necessary climate finance, he said “80 percent of climate finance comes from the public budgets of countries.”
He added in previous climate summits developed countries committed to mobilizing 100 billion U.S. dollars annually by 2020 to address the pressing need of developing countries, had this amount been fulfilled, it only represents three percent of these countries’ needs.
Encouraging and activating innovative financial instruments and benefiting from the financial markets concerned with sustainable green finance are tools to carry out climate change projects, he added. ■
