Cairo: On the sidelines of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27), US President Joe Biden on Friday met with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to accelerating global efforts to tackle climate crisis, according to a White House statement.
Biden congratulated President El-Sisi on hosting COP 27, and both leaders emphasized their mutual commitment to the multifaceted US-Egypt strategic partnership. According to the statement, “President Biden expressed the United States’ solidarity with Egypt in the face of the global economic and food security challenges caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine, as well as his support for Egypt’s water rights.”
US President raised the importance of human rights and respect for fundamental freedoms. The two leaders also consulted on regional security challenges, opportunities to de-escalate conflicts, and the decades-long US-Egypt defence partnership.
Meanwhile, President Biden addressed the United Nations climate talks, stressing American leadership at a time when the country is facing broad criticism for being the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in history, the New York Times reported.
Action is a “responsibility of global leadership,” Biden said. “Countries that are in a position to help should be supporting developing countries so they can make decisive climate decisions, facilitating their energy transitions, building a path to prosperity compatible with our climate imperative.”
India’s side, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav is also there.
Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) Leena Nandan during a panel discussion at the India Pavilion at COP 27 said that climate change is not an issue confined to those who are seen as emitters.
This discussion session was hosted by the Department of Science and Technology on the topic ‘Technology Needs Assessment for Sustainable Life’ to identify the technological needs and their assessment for their adoption for the sustainable well-being of global citizens.
“What India and the world need today is technology. Climate change is not an issue confined to those who are seen as emitters. There is now a realisation and larger and uniform understanding that Climate change cannot be wished away. It is knocking at our door,” MoEFCC Secretary Leena Nandan said on Thursday.
She further emphasised that climate change has led to devastation in the form of several nature-based occurrences and our lifestyles need to change as a response to the challenges faced today.
In her address, she also said that the discussions need to focus on bridging the gaps between what we want to achieve and how to achieve it, adding that the process of applying science and knowledge to our activities needs to be processed.
“All the Rs– Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Restore, and Refurbish– need the T of Technology,” Nandan said while talking about the Circular Economy.
