Climate Commitments: Less Reason for the Arab Region to Cop Out?

The last Conference of the Parties (COP 26), held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), finalised the “rulebook” for implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement. Its tagline, “from ambition to action,” will be examined through the lens of the next two COP meetings – COP27 and COP28 – hosted by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, respectively. Given the varying impacts of climate change across regions, the Paris Agreement recognised that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Both the UAE and Egypt have been working with the United States to roll out further initiatives: The US-UAE venture aims to make agriculture resilient to climate change, while Egypt’s joint press release with the US stressed the need for “Implementation…Plus” which includes carrying through on existing commitments. These projects will give further importance to the Arab COPs globally, especially in the lead-up to COP28 under the Emirati presidency, where the first round of global stocktake is due to take place. Can COP 27 and COP 28 serve as outlets for the Arab region to highlight their unique climate challenges? To what extent will the Arab countries’ position differ? Will there be an increase in regional climate cooperation? In particular, will the two COPs create Arab-African tensions? How much further along the road to action will Arab countries be pushed? The Middle East Institute, in collaboration with the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW), will host a panel to tackle these and other questions. This public talk was conducted online via Zoom on Tuesday, 29 March 2022, from 8.00 pm to 9.30 pm (SGT) / 8.00 am to 9.30 am (Washington DC time). For more information about this event, click here: https://mei.nus.edu.sg/event/climate-commitments-less-reason-for-the-arab-region-to-cop-out/