COP27 got underway yesterday, with more pressing calls to action to prevent “climate catastrophe”: World leaders struck a serious and somber note with warnings of “irreversible” climate chaos and calls for cooperation and shared responsibility on the first day of the COP27 leaders’ summit yesterday. Inaugurating the conference, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said we’re in a “world of suffering,” calling on all countries to assume responsibility to tackle climate change “to the degree that they can” (watch, runtime: 19:50).

The message was clear: The status quo can’t continue. “Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing. Global temperatures keep rising. And our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible,” said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres (watch, runtime: 10:15). “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.”

Developing countries are not holding back in their criticism of rich nations as the debate over climate reparations continues:

• Barbados PM Mia Mottley was most strident in her criticism: “We were the ones whose blood, sweat and tears financed the industrial revolution … Are we now to face double jeopardy by having to pay the cost as a result of those greenhouse gasses from the industrial revolution? That is fundamentally unfair.”
• Faustin Archange Touadera, president of the Central African Republic, agreed: “We should say clearly the rich countries ⁠— the top polluters ⁠— are the ones who are most to blame for endangering humanity.”
• As did Kenya’s new president, William Ruto, who spoke representing the African Group of negotiators: “Loss and damage is not an abstract topic of endless dialogue: it is our daily experience and the living nightmare of millions of Kenyans and hundreds of millions of Africans.” Noting that Africa contributes only 3% to global emissions, Ruto said that it “is therefore only fair and proper that this conference takes necessary measures to recognise Africa’s special needs and circumstances under the Paris Agreement” (watch, runtime: 14:01).

Developing countries have fought to get “loss and damage” on the agenda for the summit for the first time this year: Low- and middle-income nations are demanding that rich countries provide more financial support to help them weather the impact of climate change after they broke a pledge to provide USD 100 bn a year to the developing world. Wealthy countries have refused to agree to discuss compensation for more than a decade and were accused of “bullying” poorer countries to strike it from the COP27 agenda.’

Some in the West recognize the problem: Global leaders have a “credibility problem” when it comes to taking action on climate change, said former US Vice President and long-time climate advocate Al Gore (watch, runtime: 14:50). Developed nations’ continued pursuit of Africa’s gas resources is “fossil fuel colonialism,” said Gore, which will lead to “climate chaos and bns in stranded assets, especially here in Africa.”

The idea has gotten a mixed reception among developed countries:

• Scotland and the Netherlands both said yesterday they would step up climate funding to the developing world;
• But ex-UK prime minister Boris Johnson said that the UK does not have the money to pay loss and damage.

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Highlights from the second day of the conference:

• Sahel green hydrogen plant: A Belgian consortium presented to Egyptian authorities a feasibility study on establishing a 500-MW green hydrogen plant on the Mediterranean coast. (Cabinet statement)
• AstraZeneca to help lower emissions in Egypt’s health sector: A MoU was signed between the General Authority for Healthcare (GAH) and AstraZeneca to look at lowering emissions in the healthcare sector. (Cabinet statement)

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President El Sisi used the opening day of the conference to hold several meetings with global leaders:

• El Sisi x Sunak: El Sisi discussed economic and trade ties with the UK in his first meeting with new UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, according to readouts from Ittihadiya and the UK government. Sunak’s office said the two talked about green hydrogen and private investment — and that the prime minister expressed “deep concern” over the fate of imprisoned political activist Alaa Abdel Fattah (more on this in Egypt in the News, below). “The Prime Minister said he hoped to see this resolved as soon as possible and would continue to press for progress,” the statement read.
• El Sisi x Macron: El Sisi discussed the crises in Ukraine and Libya with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to an Ittihadiya statement. Macron said following the meeting that he had also discussed Abdel Fattah with El Sisi, and that the president “committed to ensuring that (the) health of Alaa Abdel Fattah is preserved,” according to AFP.
• El Sisi x Meloni: Energy, climate, immigration and human rights were on the agenda for talks between El Sisi and the new Italian prime minister, according to a statement from Meloni’s office picked up by Reuters.
• Madbouly x De Croo: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly discussed green hydrogen and clean energy with his Belgian counterpart, cabinet said.

Want more from COP27? Head over to this morning’s issue of Enterprise Climate.