Egypt Crushes at Home the Climate Action It’s Championing Abroad
The road to COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh has been strewn with hurdles for global climate crisis activists, but Egyptian advocates have it worse
A Fridays for Future protest at Festival Park during last year’s COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, UK, Nov. 1, 2021.
Campaigners are struggling to make it to this year’s event in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
The United Nations flagship climate summit is usually a lively affair. As well as drawing world leaders, scientists, even executives, thousands of activists travel to cities hosting the COP talks, staging colorful demonstrations to demand more urgent action and holding events to raise awareness of specific issues. Not this year.
Non-profit organizations and activists seeking to attend COP27 in Egypt’s remote seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh say they’ve faced unprecedented hurdles getting accreditation and finding accommodation, potentially limiting civil society representation and even hindering the outcome.
The restrictions have prompted high-profile Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, who’s expressed solidarity with Egyptian political prisoners, to skip what she called the “greenwashing” conference. Climate campaigners from developing countries such as Pakistan, where global warming significantly exacerbated this year’s record floods, have faced particular difficulties getting funding to attend.