Cop27: Joe Biden to speak at climate conference – live

The Guardian has reported on protests at Cop27, where activists have called on Egyptian authorities to release thousands of political prisoners.

Someone who has spotlighted the regime’s repression against its own citizens is Italian national Giorgio Caracciolo, the Middle East and North Africa manager of Dignity, an anti-torture advocacy group. On Wednesday, Caracciolo was denied entry at Cairo airport despite having the correct immigration documents and Cop accreditation.

Authorities did not provide reasons for his deportation.

Caracciolo said on Twitter:

“Personally speaking I wonder why me… Is it because the organisation I represent [focuses] on the most intimate tools used by the regime, that is torture and violence?”

Human rights Watch and other organisations condemned the decision. “Beyond the immediate impact on Caracciolo, who has now been blocked from attending Cop27 and addressing the human rights situation in Egypt, these tactics are creating an environment of fear for all activists speaking out on human rights at Cop27.”

Ruth Michaelson

In case anyone was thinking of protesting Egypt’s deep economic crisis today in the capital Cairo and elsewhere, the singer Sayed Emam is here with an upbeat reminder not to bother going into the streets. The song, entitled “We won’t go down,” thoughtfully accompanied by an image of a pro-government protest on YouTube, is designed to encourage Egyptians to stay in their homes.

To add to the irony, it’s set to a backing tune reminiscent of mahraganat, a form of popular music associated with the Egyptian streets and weddings and designed to make you get up and dance – or maybe even protest. Mahraganat singers are also now essentially banned from performing in Egypt, after the head of the country’s Musicians Syndicate issued a decree two years ago that bans them from performing in any festivals, clubs cafes, concerts or other public spaces.

There have been calls for citizens to protest Egypt’s deepening cost of living crisis today on social media. In response, the country’s security forces preemptively arrested over 150 people in recent weeks according to Amnesty International.

What to expect today

Patrick Greenfield

Here is what to look out for on decarbonisation day:

• Joe Biden’s speech will be at 5.15pm local time (3.15pm GMT). He moved to rejoin the Paris agreement just hours after taking office in January 2020 and has since passed a $369bn package of climate investments that could cut US greenhouse gas emissions by 40%.

• US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a handful of US lawmakers will be holding a press conference later this afternoon.

• Although it is decarbonisation day, at least two fossil fuel CEOs are scheduled to speak at Cop27 on Friday. It comes after analysis of delegates found that there had been an “explosion” in fossil fuel lobbyists attending the climate summit this year, with 636 in attendance, a rise of more than 25% since Cop26 in Glasgow.

• More protests are on the Cop27 site on Friday, including those highlighting the case of the hunger striker Alaa Abd el-Fattah.

As Cop27 waits for the arrival of Joe Biden, who is feeling mightily pleased with himself after the Democrats were not obliterated in the midterm elections as forecast, climate justice activists will not be congratulating the US president, rather criticising him for climate failures.

“President Biden must declare a climate emergency. People are sick, they are dying because profits are valued more than our lives,” said Sharon Lavigne, the 2021 Goldman prize winner from Louisiana, who led a successful grassroots campaign to stop the construction of a toxic plastics plant in America’s “cancer alley”. “We put him in office. He needs to listen to frontline leaders. President Biden please meet with me today at Cop27; listen to us.”

This morning’s first protest called on world leaders to declare a climate emergency, keep fossil fuels in the ground, and pay reparations for the irreversible loss and damage already suffered – mostly by communities and countries that are least responsible for global heating.

Millions of people are still suffering in Pakistan after unprecedented rainfall and floods left a third of the country under water earlier this year. “We are paying for the crimes of corporations and the global north, who have made Pakistan a hub for climate disasters,” said one protester, Farooq Tariq. “We don’t want any more words, we want debt suspension, we want reparations, we want climate justice.”

Good morning, and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Cop27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where the theme of the day is decarbonisation.

US president Joe Biden is visiting the conference buoyed by better than expected results in the US midterms earlier this week, and is due to speak this afternoon. The full UN schedule can be found here, and we’ll bring you the most interesting and important developments as the day unfolds.

Thursday saw anger at the number of fossil fuel lobbyists attending the conference, protesters wearing white in solidarity with environmental defenders and political prisoners, and Achim Steiner, head of the UN development programme, warning that more than 50 developing countries are at risk of going bankrupt without help from the rich world. Catch up on the day’s events here.

I’m Oliver Holmes, and you can send me tips, comments, questions and complaints at [email protected] or on Twitter at @olireports.