KARACHI: The United Nations Climate Change Con­ference (COP27) annou­nced on Monday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be the vice-chairperson for the event.

The distinction came on the back of Prime Minister Shehbaz’s proactive leadership and global efforts on the climate change action plan, APP reported.

Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi has invited Mr Sharif to co-chair the mee­ting. The prime minister will jointly chair the round table conference along with President Al-Sisi and prime minister of Norway.

The development has come at a time when Pakis­tan is reeling from the dev­astation caused by unpre­cedented floods and torrential rains.

The 27th session of the UN’s Climate Change Conf­e­rence will be convened in Egypt’s city of Sharm el-Sheikh from November 6 to 18. It will be attended by world leaders, think tanks, heads of governments and international financial inst­i­tu­tions to review the implementation on the objectives agreed in the past conference and chalk out an action plan for the future.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the highest decision making body under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The convention was adopted in 1992 during the ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro, with the treaty entering into force in 1994 and 196 countries ratifying it.

The COP meets every year with the first meeting taking place in Berlin, Germany in March, 1995. The last COP was held in Glasgow in 2021.

This year, the parties will focus on mitigation, adaptation, finance and collaboration to find sustainable solutions to climate change.

“COP27 will be a moment for countries to fulfil their pledges and commitments towards delivering the objectives of the Paris Agreement to enhance the implementation of the Convention. This year should witness the implementation of the Glasgow pact call to review ambition in NDCs, and create a work program for ambition on mitigation,” reads a statement on the conference’s website.

Among other visions of COP27 are a global agenda for action on adaptation, financial action plans for achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and increased cooperation between governments, private sector and civil society to introduce new solutions and innovations for alleviating the adverse impacts of climate change.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2022