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Cop27: World Bank president says he is not a ‘climate denier’; protests in Sharm el-Sheikh– live

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World Bank President David Malpass says he is not a ‘climate denier’

Patrick Greenfield

Patrick Greenfield

World Bank President David Malpass has told the Guardian he is not a climate change denier.

“You know that I’m not [a climate denier]. So don’t misreport it,” he said when asked following an event at Cop27.

Malpass, a Donald Trump appointee, has previously said he did know “even know” if he accepted climate science. Joe Biden’s White House has condemned his comments.

The World Bank has repeatedly failed to adopt a strong action plan on the climate crisis, and is under growing pressure to reform to help finance the climate transition in developing countries.

The Bank’s president had rejected requests for interviews at Cop27 after he was delayed in South Africa before the climate when his plane got caught by lightning.

When approached on Wednesday, Malpass refused to answer questions about the need for World Bank reform before walking backstage.

Key events

Photos from the first couple of days at Cop27.

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meet on the sidelines of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on November 7, 2022.
US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meet on the sidelines of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on November 7, 2022. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images
Climate activist Vanessa Nakate, of Uganda, is joined by others of Fridays for Future to protest against Germany's Olaf Scholz's climate policy at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Climate activist Vanessa Nakate, of Uganda, is joined by others of Fridays for Future to protest against Germany’s Olaf Scholz’s climate policy at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/AP

World Bank President David Malpass says he is not a ‘climate denier’

Patrick Greenfield

Patrick Greenfield

World Bank President David Malpass has told the Guardian he is not a climate change denier.

“You know that I’m not [a climate denier]. So don’t misreport it,” he said when asked following an event at Cop27.

Malpass, a Donald Trump appointee, has previously said he did know “even know” if he accepted climate science. Joe Biden’s White House has condemned his comments.

The World Bank has repeatedly failed to adopt a strong action plan on the climate crisis, and is under growing pressure to reform to help finance the climate transition in developing countries.

The Bank’s president had rejected requests for interviews at Cop27 after he was delayed in South Africa before the climate when his plane got caught by lightning.

When approached on Wednesday, Malpass refused to answer questions about the need for World Bank reform before walking backstage.

Our environment correspondent, Fiona Harvey, has put a useful list together of how likely progress is at Cop27.

It’s terrible news for those who are still clinging to 1.5C but some surprising achievements could be grasped at the summit.

Nina Lakhani

Finally, the first bonafide protest at Cop27 in the central Blue Zone of the conference, and of course it involves a Tyrannosaurus rex and Pikachu joining 50 or so activists from Asia, Africa and the Americas calling for an end to fossil fuel funding and a shift to investment in community-based renewable projects.

Dipti Bhatnagar from Friends of the Earth International in Mozambique called out the gas deal between Total and the government, which has fuelled an internal conflict and led to a million refugees.

My country is not responsible for the climate crisis, but we’re suffering the effects. Now, rich countries are out to grab the huge gas reserves, and people are being dispossessed of their land. One million people out of the 23 million population are living in refugee camps because of gas. We say no to more gas finance. We won’t let Africa burn.

Protesters at Cop27
Protesters at Cop27. Photograph: Nina Lakhani

Egyptian authorities have banned protests at the main conference centre where the climate negotiations are taking place, just like they are banned across the country, but surprisingly there was no sign of security shutting it down straight away. Delegates stopped to snap photos as they streamed past en route to the first events of the day.

Despite the ban, we’ll likely see more protests in the blue zone in the coming days as many activists have said they will not use the official designated protest area which is somewhere out in the desert, and nor will they be going to the Green Zone, the official activist area which is half theme park, half corporate expo space, and a 25-minute sweaty walk from the negotiations.

Oliver Holmes

Oliver Holmes

Hello, and welcome to the Guardian’s live blog of the third day of Cop27, the United Nations climate conference taking place in Egypt.

The two opening days – in which leaders give speeches on their frustrations and aspirations – are over. Now it’s time for the hard work: negotiations. We’ll be expecting protests, too. Our team is in Egypt at the conference and will be sending reports.

My name is Oliver Holmes and I’ll be with you for the next few hours. You can send me questions, interesting things you’ve seen, and even rants and raves to oliver.holmes@theguardian.com or on Twitter, to @olireports.



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