President Abdel Fattah El Sisi of Egypt raised worry at the COP26 climate summit about the funding gap between available funds for climate change measures and the actual needs of developing countries. He believes it is critical that money pledged earlier be made available.

“We remain concerned about the gap between the available finance and the actual needs of the developing countries, added to the challenges faced by our countries to access this finance,” he said.

“It is imperative that developed countries fulfil $100 billion annually to climate finance in developing countries.”

Briefing the summit on the steps taken by Egypt to tackle climate change, he said: “Egypt initiated several steps to implement a sustainable development model that addressed climate change, and adapting to its negative impact as a main part of it, a model that aims that the government-financed green projects reaches 50 per cent of total projects by 2025 and 100 per cent by 2030.”

“For example, renewable energy constitutes today 20 per cent of Egypt’s consumed energy with the aim of reaching 42 per cent by 2035 while rationalising the energy subsidies.”

Both presidents agreed that Glasgow must be an important moment for countries to provide meaningful action on coal, vehicles, cash, and trees during their meeting at the summit, which comes ahead of Egypt’s leadership of COP27 next year.

They also emphasised the necessity of countries transitioning to renewable energy and will collaborate closely to achieve ambitious climate change goals and guarantee that the benefits of green technology and growth are felt globally.