Nov. 6 was a day that brought together world leaders in one room for the long-awaited conference known as COP27. Taking place in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh, this global event is all about making a complete shift in how the world will take on climate change.
The Huge Turn-Out
The excitement and build-up towards the event reached its peak on the conference’s first day with EgyptAir alone making over 250 trips, bringing a mass of attendees from cities like Munich and London all the way to Sharm El Sheikh. To truly kickstart the climate-centered conversation, one of the airlines flying into Sharm was powered by biofuel showcasing one of the many ways to take real action.
On the day, over 41,000 attendees made their way to the designated blue zone, the UN-managed space of 156 halls where all the negotiations and talks will happen, accessible only to attendees credited by the UNFCCC Secretariat.
Some of the biggest world leaders also made a special appearance including the UK’s Prime Minister, H.E Rishi Sunak, France’s president H.E Emmanuel Macron as well as the UK’s former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. At one point during the day, Macron and Sunak sat together for the first time since the British Prime Minister took office.
The Esteemed Speakers
Kicking off the 13-day event was the opening ceremony spearheaded by Alok Sharma, the president of COP26 who realistically stressed how this year’s conference is all about taking active financial action:
“We know that we have reached a point where finance makes or breaks the progress of the program ahead of us.”
– Alok Sharma via English Ahram
As he stood in a room among world leaders and made his final remarks, it was time for him to pass the torch to this year’s COP27 president HE Sameh Shoukry. The newest president was all about creating a united front stating that the reason why efforts towards climate change are slow and uneventful traced back to how the entire world is disjointed and polarized thus calling for transparency and more open conversations between world countries concluding that this is how change can actually happen.
All these events and the destruction and impact represent a lesson to be learned and alarm all over the planet … to invite us to more precaution, and to act quickly to take all necessary measures as per our commitments and pledges.”
– HE Sameh Shoukry via English Ahram
Continuing in the same vein, Simon Stiell, the executive director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) who says that a new era must begin, one in which action has to be taken seriously and that anyone who does not want to take action should not slow down the collective effort already in place.
The Surprises & Newest Additions
Since 2020, everything from wildfires and droughts to extensive floods have plagued world countries with the most recent victim being Pakistan. A big push for funding is needed to reverse the damage caused by the current deteriorating state of our climate. That is why for the very first time in COP history all parties taking part in the ongoing negotiations agreed to include loss and damage funding as an agenda item at the conference making a big step towards fixing the existing damage so that countries can take active change through a clean slate.
As the ceremony was drawing to a close, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly ended it on a high note by inaugurating Sharm El Sheikh’s Green Zone, an open 12,000 square meter space created to promote conversations and dialogue about climate change through events lead by local and regional voices including young people and various artists.
The Entertainment
For a taste of entertainment, Egypt’s very own music producer, Hisham Kharma was chosen as the official Music theme composer at COP27 and knowing his past work including his contribution to the sci-fi show ‘Al Neyaha’ and the documentary ‘Come to Egypt’ he will definitely bring his creativity and ingenious talent to this esteemed event.
The making of the official theme song will involve a collaboration with a group of Egyptian musicians as well as the renowned singer Clara Sorace known for her work on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Le Casa de Papel.
“I’m so proud to be part of this such international event, specially it is held in Egypt, so I tried through the music to make an international score with an Egyptian signature, and to achieve that, I used the authentic sound of the Oud and Kawala.”
– Hisham Kharma Via Egypt today
Bringing you just the highlights, COP27 has much more to offer in the upcoming days, especially with its jam-packed schedule of talks and conferences lasting until Nov 18. When it comes to the opening ceremony, if you want to catch the full day in its entirety you can watch the entire event in full detail through the newly released live coverage online.