Egypt: The official page of the Egyptian Presidency of the Council of Ministers shared a statement issued by the Ministry of Environment related to the discussion about environmental investment with the Director of the European Investment Bank.
The environment minister of Egypt, Dr Yasmin Fouad, stated, “We cooperate with development partners in preparing investment packages for the private sector.” She furthermore added that cooperation with the European Investment Bank to implement the GSI Sustainable Green Industry Program with a funding of 30 million euros to support the industry sector.
In addition to this, Dr Yasmin Fouad, Ministerial Coordinator and Climate Conference Envoy met with Lionel Raphael, Director of the European Investment Bank – neighbouring countries and the delegation accompanying him to explore ways of cooperation to promote environmental investment in Egypt, where the Minister praised the extended relationship with the Bank in supporting environmental work in Egypt and complementing it with many New partnerships to leverage on technical support and bank expertise to boost Egypt’s efforts to engage the private sector in environmental and climate investment.
According to the update shared by the presidential office, the two sides discussed ways of cooperation in preparing private sector investment opportunities in the areas of environment and climate, including building the banking sector capacity in sustainable finance, investing in biodiversity and nature-based solutions, integrated waste management and conversion of waste to energy.
The Minister of the environment further claimed that the sides also reviewed the latest updates to the agreement on the implementation of the GSI Sustainable Green Industry Program in cooperation with the Bank to support sustainable development in Egypt by providing convenient financing packages for industries in the public and private sectors to finance green projects as resource efficiency, recycling and clean energy projects, especially in energy-high industries. With an investment of € 30 million.
The Minister of the Environment emphasized the place of the environment and climate agenda among the priorities of political leadership in Egypt, and the importance of the role of the private sector in implementing the goals and strategies of the state to implement environmental protection measures and counter the effects of climate change, so a number of measures have been taken to promote the integration of the private sector and expand the financial partner base, including Working on changing the banking sector culture in Egypt regarding financing climate projects and green projects, to be more able to adapt and differentiate these projects to implement national priorities, seize promising investment opportunities, encouraging the private sector to further engagement, and in cooperation with the Central Bank, specializing units in sustainable financing is created In all banks in Egypt to do this role.
The Minister of the Environment has set up a new unit within the Ministry for Environment and Climate Investment, aiming to come up with innovative ideas to invest in the environment and climate and support private sector participation, believing in the role of the private sector in implementing the specified national contributions plan, promoting investment in other areas such as environmental tourism, development of nature reserves and integrated waste management. Possibility of collaborating with the Bank in providing technical support to the unit.
The Minister also pointed out biodiversity as one of Egypt’s important areas, especially after Egypt’s efforts in preparing the draft general framework for biodiversity for the post-2020 within its presidency of the COP14 biodiversity conference, focusing on involving the private sector in the management of nature reserves and implementing ecotourism activities in order to support and integrate the tourism sector in Egypt Local Communities, where we are currently implementing four projects in the Fayoum, South Sinai and the Red Sea, are a sign of the possibility of cooperation with the Bank on biodiversity projects, natural resources conservation and the implementation of nature-based solutions by providing technical implementation support in collaboration with the private sector.
In the field of waste management, the Minister clarified the promising investment opportunities in taking advantage of agricultural and solid waste and the biomaterial-based economy, especially after the issuance of the first waste management law in Egypt and its executive board, which defines roles and responsibilities of each party, private sector engagement mechanisms, relationship with partners, and also investment opportunities in production Biogas, which is facilitated by the Biogas Foundation of the Ministry of Environment, by publishing different biogas units models and encouraging startups in this field, and contributing to the presidential initiative is generous to take advantage of agricultural and animal waste to produce clean and cheap energy.
Egypt is currently entering the field of energy production from waste, following the announcement of a tariff conversion of waste to energy, and preparing a project package in partnership between the public and private sectors, and the first project to convert waste to electricity in Giza will be started soon.
For his part, the Director of the European Investment Bank praised Egypt’s efforts in protecting the environment and climate, the joint cooperation with the Ministry of Environment in various fields, the completion of promoting investment in the areas of environment and climate, implementation of the initiatives launched at the COP27 climate conference, including the private sector, citing the role of banks in facing the effects of climate change and implement the obligations and requirements necessary for states to counter.