“There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewables,” the new prime minister Rishi Sunak tweeted on Wednesday, about his decision to attend this year’s Cop27 climate conference in Egypt.
He made no reference to his previous decision not to go to Sharm El Sheikh for the UN’s annual environment summit, which starts on Monday but climate campaigners and many in his own party have welcomed to the about-turn.
The 13-day event will be Sunak’s first global appearance since becoming PM and it’ll be quite the introduction. He and Cop’s 40,000 expected guests will be treated to a jam-packed itinerary, from beachside talks on youth activism to chic dinners in traditional Arabian bedouin tents. He’ll join quite the line-up of delegates and world leaders. Sunak’s former boss-turned-arch-rival Boris Johnson has confirmed that he is going (was Sunak worried Johnson’s attendance would make him look bad?), as has US President Joe Biden, and France’s Emmanuel Macron.
There’ll be no beachside selfies with Greta Thunberg, though. The 19-year-old Swedish climate campaigner, who attended the 2019 event in Madrid and the 2021 summit in Glasgow, has reportedly declined this year’s invitation. This is due to what she believes is a performance in “greenwashing, lying and cheating” and “human rights abuses” in Egypt — a nod to the country’s treatment of its reported 60,000 political prisoners.
From the glamorous guest list to gated parties in the middle of the desert, here’s what to expect as the political circus jets into Sharm El Sheikh.
The most secure Cop in history?
This year’s COP (Conference Of Parties) is its 27th iteration and will be quite the change from the Scottish city’s drizzly George Square. This year’s guests can expect 28-degree heat, palm tree-lined boulevards through the desert, and manicured resorts against a backdrop of rocky mountains in Sharm El Sheikh.
Exactly where delegates will stay is being kept under wraps, but the Four Seasons Hotel, one of the finest hotels in south Sinai and just ten minutes from Sharm El Sheikh’s international airport, is a likely option, boasting a private beach, cliff-top restaurants and Arabic-inspired suites with private terraces. The Steigenberger Alcazar hotel, with three swimming pools, spa and private beach, is another likely candidate.
More than 500 white taxis have reportedly been commissioned to transport attendees between their hotels and the Cop conference venue, where on-site facilities include a Covid testing centre, meditation rooms and traditional Egyptian bedouin catering tents. Days will be themed, from “Youth and Future Generation Day” to “Gender Day”, with talks on subjects from climate reporting technology to the health of natural ecosystems.
Organisers say they’re expecting more than 40,000 participants - the highest number ever for a climate summit on the continent - and insiders on the ground say an array of new security measures have been put in plac to keep guests safe. These include designated protest areas, an app that tracks attendees’ location, and video surveillance inside the official taxis.
This is the fifth time that Africa will host a Cop. Officials say they hope it will draw attention to the severe impacts of climate change on the continent, which is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world. An estimated 17 million people are believed to be facing food insecurity in east Africa due to drought.
But the location is also contentious, with campaigners criticising Egypt’s human rights record - its treatment of prisoners in particular. Ms Thunberg says this is one of the “many reasons” she is boycotting the event. “We stand in solidarity with prisoners of conscience in Egypt & joined @copcivicspace petition urging Egypt to open civic space and release everyone arbitrarily detained ahead of #COP27,” she tweeted last month. She criticised the event for being “held in a tourist paradise in a country that violates many basic human rights”.
Critics have also been quick to slam the deliberate decision to host Cop in a gated, purpose-built resort town far from Egypt’s capital Cairo. “Sharm El Sheikh is a dream resort where the government can exclude the majority of Egyptians, and invest huge amounts of resources to ensure that everything is under surveillance and their control,” Mr Baoumi says. “It’s telling how the Egyptian presidency and the leadership view their ideal society. It’s a gated one without the masses.”
Cop27 guest list
Despite being extremely keen to attend, one of the more surprising headlines in the run-up to Cop27 has been the news that King Charles will not be visiting the summit. He will be host a “pre-Cop” reception at Buckingham Palace today instead.
Instead, it’ll be Sunak and his same-party rival MrJohnson forming the main British representation in Sharm El Sheikh (they won’t be sharing a plane to reduce emissions, a spokesperson told amused reporters at this week’s PMQs).
At least 90 other heads of state are expected to be among tens of thousands descending on the Red Sea resort. These include Mr Biden and his Climate Envoy John Kerry, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italy’s new far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who recently said she wants to make climate change a right-wing issue.
Brazil’s newly elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, more commonly known as Lula - who promised to restore his country’s leadership on climate change and protect the Amazon rainforest after defeating climate sceptic Jair Bolsonaro in the presidential election on Sunday - is reportedly sending representatives in his place.
On the expected no-show list are Australia’s PM Anthony Albanese, Russia’s Vladimir Putin (though Russian delegates are expected to attend) and China’s leader Xi Jinping, who swerved last year’s summit, too, despite his country being the largest emitter of CO2.
Broadcaster David Attenborough, who made a rousing speech at last year’s opening ceremony, is among the other rumoured names on the potential guest list. This also includes Princess Beatrice, who appeared in Glasgow last year with friend and singer Ellie Goulding.
Climate, cost of living crisis and war-time co-operation
Cutting methane emissions, tackling deforestation and driving clean technology were among the major pledges in Glasgow. The conference concluded with a particularly significant diplomatic achievement: a global consensus on limiting temperature rises to 1.5C for the first time.
So what’s on this year’s agenda? Insiders say climate finance - a key interest of the PM’s- is likely to be among the hot topics. The UN’s 2009 commitment to giving £87 billion a year to developed countries to prepare for and recover from climate change by 2020 has already been pushed back to 2023. Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis has added urgency to this year’s discussions.
It is also fitting that the conference - taking place from November 6 to 18 - finishes the day after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is due to set out the Government’s postponed autumn statement. Can Britain expect its most eco-focused budget yet, or will cutting costs take priority over climate pledges?
The Russia-Ukraine war is another major crisis to have unfolded since the last Cop summit. Not only does it have major implications for energy, but it also puts even greater importance on the event for leaders such as Sunak to build geopolitical relations.
“A lot of the world is sitting on the sidelines, impacted by the war but not throwing in its lot with our defence of values in Ukraine,” says former World Bank official Rachel Kyte. “We need to be with them on what is important for them if we want them with us on what is important for us. You can’t build relationships unless you turn up.”
Other key topics for 2022 include the establishment of a global carbon market and a strengthening of commitments to reduce the use of coal. There will also be themed days on everything from biodiversity to gender.
A critical test for climate action — or a greenwashing “scam”?
Thunberg has long been sceptical of global climate gatherings. At Cop25 in 2019, the then-16-year-old told conference members that “finding holistic solutions is what the Cop should be all about, but instead it seems to have turned into some kind of opportunity for countries to negotiate loopholes and to avoid raising their ambition”.
She attended last year’s Cop26 with hesitation, ending the event by saying the summit had been a “failure” and a “PR event”. Now, she’s decided to boycott this year’s Cop altogether, accusing the event of being a “scam” and “greenwashing”. This is a term that means falsely or misleadingly claiming to be dedicated to being environmentally friendly. So what fuelled the teenager’s opposition?
For her, it’s about optics. While the premise behind the Cops — for governments to agree steps to limit global temperature rises — is a worthy one, she now believes the events are “mainly used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention”. That most of those leaders jump on planes and private jets to do so hardly helps that image (she travelled to Glasgow by train and famously sailed across the Atlantic to attend the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit in New York).
Thunberg is not the only person who is strongly opposed to this year’s summit. Mr Baomi has accused Egypt of using the event “to conceal the crimes that are happening inside the country and to prevent state delegations and officials from meeting with Egyptians”. Meanwhile, some commentators have criticised Sunak’s decision to attend, pointing out that he’ll be emitting roughly 1.65 tonnes of CO2 for the sake of shaking a few hands.
So how much difference will Sunak’s attendance really make? Hopefully, more than the sceptics suspect. Supporters of the PM’s decision say his initial snub of Cop27 was indicative of too many leaders’ stance on climate change today: that it falls down the priority list whenever there’s a more imminent crisis, despite it being widely regarded as the greatest and most existential challenge of our time.
“[It’s] very worrying that the UK thought there was anything more serious than climate change,” former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed said before Mr Sunak’s U-turn. “You can count the pennies but might lose the pounds.”
Whether Sunak has made the right decision in U-turning remains divisive. However, one thing’s for sure: after a spookily mild autumn and a record-breaking year for global temperatures, Sunak has a considerable task on his hands when it comes to tackling the climate catastrophe. Whether jetting out to a sunny beach resort amid a cost of living crisis is the right way to do that remains to be seen.
