COP27 Egypt: Who’s attending?
The 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) will kick off on Sunday, with world leaders arriving in Egypt to attend.
The climate event will see the world’s most powerful heads of state gather in an attempt to work together to find solutions to the climate crisis, with last year’s held in Glasgow.
COP27 is taking place between Sunday 6 and Friday 18 November, and this is the fifth time COP to be hosted in Africa, one of the world’s regions that is most vulnerable to global warming, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
COP, whose full name is the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties. It took place for the first time in Berlin, Germany in 1995.
More than 30,000 delegates, including representatives from around 200 countries, are expected to go to this year’s COP.
Rishi Sunak was not initially going to attend, but U-turned on his decision in the face of widespread backlash. He wrote on Twitter that there was “no long-term prosperity without action on climate change“, and no energy security without investing in renewables, as he confirmed he would attend the talks.
There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change.
There is no energy security without investing in renewables.
That is why I will attend @COP27P next week: to deliver on Glasgow's legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) November 2, 2022
His confirmation came shortly after former prime minister Boris Johnson piled on further pressure by announcing that he would be going to Sharm El-Sheikh.
U.S. President Joe Biden will be joining climate envoy John Kerry in Egypt, despite the mid-term elections taking place.
Vladimir Putin is not expected to attend, but Russian delegates will likely participate, while other nations, such as China, have not confirmed whether their leaders will attend.
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will attend the COP27, the official Emirates News Agency WAM announced on Sunday.
Among the high-level attendees are UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, UN’s new climate chief Simon Stiell, COP26 president Alok Sharma, Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley, World Bank President David Malpass, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, EU executive vice-president Frans Timmermans, Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Senegal’s President Macky Sall, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Türkiye’s President Erdogan, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and Indian Prime Minister Modi.
