Hosting Cop: co-operation is key to Middle East leadership on climate change – The National

Hosting Cop: co-operation is key to Middle East leadership on climate change – The National

In advance of Egypt’s Cop27, which ended last weekend, UK Environment Secretary Therese Coffey described it as not a "big political" summit. Ms Coffey wasn’t alone in undermining the conference. The annual Cop gatherings have become associated with – as former UK prime minister Boris Johnson in his opening speech put it – a "corrosive cynicism". And yet, Egypt and the Middle East have confounded the pessimists with an extraordinary win through uniting historically disparate Global North and South interests in a new fund for loss and damage. Inside and outside the Middle East, co-operation is the only way to stave off the worst effects of the climate crisis. With next year’s Cop28 again to be hosted in the Middle East, there is a unique opportunity to maintain momentum.

Already hosting the world’s International Renewable Energy Agency, 2023’s Cop28 will be hosted by the UAE. Egypt’s success in bringing countries together towards meaningful outcomes presages the UAE’s emphasis on practical solutions and substantive steps forward for its time in the eco-spotlight. Global leadership coming from the region should not be surprising. The Middle East has always been at the crossroads between West and East and North and South. Economically, North Africa