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The U.S. Chamber is one of the business community’s leading voices on climate solutions in the UN dialogue. The Chamber has been an accredited observer to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for over a decade and maintains a strong and constructive presence in the Business and Industry Non-Governmental Organization observer group.
At its core, the U.S. Chamber believes the private sector is key to developing, financing, building, and operating the solutions necessary to power economic growth worldwide while mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Thousands of businesses are already taking action in their own operations and along their value chains by investing in technology solutions and enhancing their efficiency. The U.S. Chamber advocates for policies that are not only practical, flexible, predictable, and durable, but also enable private sector innovation.
UN Conference of Parties (COP)
Hosted by the Government of Egypt in Sharm El-Sheikh, from November 6th to 18th, 2022, COP27 is expected to attract as many as 40,000 climate and energy professionals and practitioners, and leaders from the private, nonprofit, and public sectors, including many heads of state. As the first COP on the African continent, it will also provide a unique opportunity to focus on the needs and aspirations of those countries.
The U.S. Chamber and its partners at the U.S.-Egypt Business Council, AmCham Egypt, and the Egypt-U.S. Business Council are strategic partners to the Government of Egypt. The Chamber’s capacity to draw upon its global network and deep relationships in Africa, and ability to marshal a robust U.S. corporate presence and engagement at the Conference of Parities will help advance Egypt’s goal to substantively involve the private sector across the region.
Business Engagement Leading to COP27
The Chamber has been actively working with the Government of Egypt in the leadup to COP27 over the course of the year. These events include:
- January 2022: “Building Momentum to COP27: Strengthening Public–Private Sector Collaboration on the Climate Challenge.” This hybrid event featured U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzanne Clark, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Egyptian Prime Minister H.E. Mostafa Madouly, Egyptian Foreign Minister and COP27 President-Designate H.E. Sameh Shoukry, and over 1,500 virtual attendees and a ballroom in Cairo with more than 400 in-person participants.
- February 2022: Roundtable discussion in Cairo with U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, SPEC Senior Advisor Ambassador David Thorne, and U.S. business leaders.
- March 2022: Roundtable dinner discussion with H.E. Eng. Tarek El-Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and H.E. Osama Mobarez, EMGF Secretary General, and U.S. energy industry leaders, on the sidelines of CERA week in Houston, to discuss how the oil & gas industry can play a meaningful role in helping realize COP27 priorities, such as methane abatement.
- April 2022: Roundtable dinner discussion in DC with Minister of Finance H.E. Dr. Mohamed Maait, Minister of International Cooperation H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, and Vice Minister of Finance for Fiscal Policies & Institutional Reform H.E. Ahmed Kouchouk, and U.S. business leaders. There was a heavy focus on green finance and the key role the private sector must play.
- May 2022: Hybrid Roundtable discussion with H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, COP27 Climate Action Champion and U.S. business leaders.
- May 2022: GreenTech Business Delegation (as seen below). The U.S. Chamber organized and led a delegation of 40 companies and more than 75 business leaders to Cairo where they were joined by the Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, the Honorable Ambassador David Thorne, as well as by seven U.S. government departments and agencies. The business delegation met with H.E. Prime Minister Madbouly, H.E. Foreign Minister and COP27 President-Designate Sameh Shoukry, five additional Cabinet-level ministers, the CEO of The Sovereign Fund of Egypt, and the Chairman of the SCZone. The GreenTech Delegation was later mentioned in a joint statement following a meeting between President Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi in Jeddah.
- September 2022: New York Climate Week The U.S. Chamber hosted “Partners in Climate Solutions: Business and Government at COP27” at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City on the sidelines of the United National General Assembly meeting. The event featured high-level government and business leaders who previewed the upcoming COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in November and discussed ways that the business community and government leaders are working together to forge climate solutions. Among the highlights were a keynote fireside discussion with His Excellency Sameh Shoukry, COP27 President-Designate & Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arab Republic of Egypt, and plenary sessions including Ambassador David Thorne, Senior Advisor, Office of the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate, Jake Levine, Chief Climate Officer of the U.S. Development Finance Corporation, several foreign ministers, and representatives from leading corporations.
- September 2022: Clean Energy MinisterialThe U.S. Chamber participated in the Global Clean Energy Action Forum, a joint convening of the 13th Clean Energy Ministerial and the 7th Mission Innovation ministerial hosted in Pittsburgh by the U.S. Department of Energy. The forum gathered more than 5,000 registrants from governments (including energy ministers from 31 countries), international organizations, the private sector, academia, and more. The U.S. Chamber hosted an event, "Industrial Sector Decarbonization Opportunities: Investment, Infrastructure and Innovation,” which focused on the technology and policy frameworks necessary to accelerate emissions reductions in energy-intensive sectors. The event opened with U.S. Chamber’s SVP of Policy, Marty Durbin, facilitating a conversation with DOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Brad Crabtree, and was followed by an industry panel discussion with Gretchen Watkins, President, Shell USA, Ujjwal Kumar, President, Honeywell Process Solutions, Honeywell, and Jaime Muguiro, President, CEMEX USA.
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