Moving around Sharm El Sheikh during COP27

“What is climate change?” Asks our taxi driver in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. I quickly look at our Arab colleague who translates what the kind taxi driver was asking us.  “We keep hearing this word, but we don’t know what it means,” he tells us, smiling.

Mohamed Saad, Taxi Driver, Sharm El Sheikh. Photo | Jamila Mohamed

The gentleman, who identified himself as Mohamed Saad, had just picked a few of us journalists from the COP27 conference centre for a ride back to our hotel after another day of covering the global climate change meeting being held this year at the Coastal resort city of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Coastal City of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Photo | Jamila Mohamed

The conference is a huge maze of meeting rooms, pavilions, restaurants, with thousands of people attending various meetings. The end of another day is usually a welcome relief for many.

Back to our taxi driver. I was interested to learn that Saad had no idea what climate change was and neither did he have an inkling about the “big meeting of many people,” as he called it.

He was just glad his taxi business was booming. “My daily earnings have more than doubled in the past week,” he says, smiling, adding; “I am taking home more money than I have in a long time.”

He tells us through our Arabic colleague that since the Covid-19 pandemic, this is the first time that things are looking up for him and many of his fellow taxi drivers.

“I think we should have three COP meetings every year!” says Saad, smiling. “That would be great for all businesses here, not just taxis like mine,” he adds.

The taxi business does not seem to have been affected by the new eco-friendly buses that offer free rides for conference delegates.

More than 200 locally-made buses that run on electricity and natural gas were taken to Sharm El Sheikh earlier this month to help transport the more than 50,000 COP27 delegates around the city.

Eco-Friendly Buses at a parking bay in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Photo | Ahmed Morsi

The buses ply various routes across the city to carry conference attendees to the meeting and back to their hotels. They operate until 10pm every night and are available at 10-minute intervals across the city.

Saad says “God provides for all, even with the free buses, we are still able to make money, it is more than enough.”

Our 10-minute ride soon ends and Saad bids us farewell, eagerly giving us his number and letting us know that he would be happy to take us around his lovely coastal city.