Egypt, US launch climate working group ahead of COP27: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and US Presidential Climate Envoy John Kerry met for the inaugural session of a working group that will set priorities for COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh this November, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. The group will also work to advance Egypt’s green energy transition.

Kerry got the ball rolling on US involvement in our energy sector: The climate envoy and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi discussed ways for American companies and institutions to participate in Egypt’s efforts to become a regional energy hub, according to an Ittihadiya statement, which mentioned projects on green hydrogen, solar and wind energy, and low-carbon and electric transport.

Egypt will work to ensure developing countries get the funding they need from developed countries to fight climate change, El Sisi said during the meeting. El Sisi has been vocal about prioritizing finance for Africa’s green transition, which Bloomberg notes will be a key theme for this year’s summit. Kerry, meanwhile, came under fire from some quarters about his position on loss and damage financing for developing nations, a matter that he mentioned only in “passing reference” during yesterday’s visit, the Financial Times reports.

Notably absent from El Sisi + Kerry’s talks: natural gas. Kerry took aim at unnamed countries who are “turning to new, unabated natural gas as a transition fuel,” in a speech delivered at AUC yesterday. “Unless fully abated, new natural gas capacity will lock in decades of new emissions when we should all be focusing on deploying abundant and cheap clean energy,” he said.

Gas is key to our energy hub ambitions: Egypt became a net exporter of natgas and LNG in 2018 after the discovery of the supergiant Zohr gas field, and has been pushing to increase output as international gas prices rise. We’ve also been approached in recent weeks by the EU and, reportedly, the US, for talks on whether we could up exports to Europe in the event that Russian supply dries up due to the geopolitical crisis over Ukraine.

Kerry wants us to take our eyeballs off Ukraine and refocus on climate: “I am concerned in terms of the climate efforts that a war [in Ukraine] is the last thing you need with respect to a united effort to try to deal with the climate challenge,” he told Reuters. The Hill and Associated Press also had coverage of Kerry’s visit.