WEF 2022: Egypt promises to push pledges, facilitate talks as COP27 host

The president of the next UN climate change conference in Egypt says the event will push countries to make good on their pledges to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions, facilitate talks on compensating developing countries for global warming effects and allow climate activists to protest.

In an interview Monday with The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry says the overall goal is implementation.

Shoukry said a rapid shift to renewable energies presented enormous opportunities for investors. When asked whether fossil fuel companies could or should be part of the transition to renewable energies, an argument made by oil and gas companies, Shoukry disagreed.

He says fossil fuels have been the problem, though we might see in gas a transitional source of energy with certainly less emissions." But he said the focus should be quickly moving to a net zero" goal.