On November 14^th, the conference of parties in Sharm El-Sheikh convened its second week of the world’s premiere climate conference. Opening with an informal stocktaking plenary, the President urged all the parties to focus on reaching a successful outcome. Mr. Shoukry reiterated the necessity for an outcome that was consistent of the implementing ethos of COP27 and “advanced climate commitments”. He also stressed that it was time to “shift gears”, and complement the technical discussions with more political, high-level engagements.

The COP Presidency, in partnership with the World Meteorological Organization, also launched the AWARE initiative– Action on Water Adaptation or Resilience. The initiative was aimed at championing inclusive cooperation to address water related challenges across the larger climate adaption efforts. On the same day, the COP27 Gender Thematic Day brought together women climate leaders to discuss action points to address the persisting challenges. It was highlighted that women must be fully integrated into the processes of formulating and implementing policies to ensure fair gender inclusion.

On November 15^th, the Presidency launched the African Women’s Climate Adaptive Priorities (AWCAP) initiative to ramp up the inclusion of women for a climate-resilient future. Commenting on the initiative, the COP27 President said: “Africa is responsible for less than 4% of global emissions and is disproportionately punished by the impact of climate change. Rural women in the continent are among the most disadvantaged, as they carry the weight of working at home and in the fields, and are hurt by displacement due to climate change.”

Opening the Energy Thematic Day at COP27, the Presidency launched the Africa Just and Affordable Energy Transition Initiative (AJAETI). The initiative was aimed at providing all Africans with access to clean energy, whilst meeting the energy requirements for Africa’s economic development. Furthermore, the COP27 Presidency launched the Action for Climate Empowerment and Civil Society Day. This platform was dedicated to the engagement of civil society, ensuring their views and perspectives are inclusively and meaningfully integrated into climate negotiations and decision making.

On November 18^th, the Egypt COP27 Presidency launched four solution-centred initiatives to mark the last thematic day of the conference. These initiatives were launched in relation to climate solutions, aimed at providing complimentary pathways to enhance global climate action and ensure that countries are able to fulfil their NDCs and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. The initiatives are listed below:

• Friends of Greening National Investment Plans in Africa and Developing Countries
• Low Carbon Transport for Urban Sustainability (LOTUS)
• Sustainable Urban Resilience for the Next Generation (SURGe)
• Global Waste Initiative 50 by 2050

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Concluding the thematic days program, the UN Secretary-General and COP27 President urged the parties to restore trust and deliver through much-needed agreements. The 1.5 Celsius degrees target for 2030 was emphatically stressed upon. One of the brightest spots for the 27^th conference of parties was the creation of a loss and damage fund, a key demand of the developing countries. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described it as “an important step towards justice”.