Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad confirmed that Egypt is pursuing a strategic path to turn climate change challenges into opportunities to achieve low-emission development and increase resilience and adaptation within the framework of Egypt’s Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 through a comprehensive plan for all sectors of development.
She reviewed the efforts made to enhance climate action at the national, regional, and global levels, explaining that Egypt, as part of its commitment to participate in the global effort to address the effects of climate change, has submitted three national communications and is currently in the final stage of issuing the fourth national communication report.
This came during a speech by Fouad, delivered on her behalf by Sherif Abdel Rahim, Head of the Central Department for Climate Change, at the third parallel sub-forum on climate action for the interim green and low-carbon transition program in cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Global Climate Management, held in China.
In her speech, the Minister of Environment pointed out that to improve climate change management in Egypt, the National Climate Change Council was established and restructured at the institutional level in 2019, chaired by the Prime Minister.
It includes members from the ministries and entities concerned, with the aim of developing and updating the national climate change strategy, linking the phenomenon of climate change to national plans, policies, strategies, and the Sustainable Development Strategy.
She added that in 2022, Egypt also issued the National Climate Change Strategy 2050, which is achieved through five main objectives, foremost among them achieving sustainable economic growth and low-emission development across various sectors.
Egypt is preparing the National Climate Governance Action Plan, aligning with the fourth goal of Egypt’s Vision 2030 regarding transparency and efficiency of government institutions, and the third goal of the national climate strategy regarding enhancing climate action governance as the cornerstone and main driver of the rest of the strategy’s goals by activating the roles of all entities and government bodies under the umbrella of the National Climate Change Council.
She explained that Egypt is embarking on implementing a wide range of climate policies and projects in various fields such as energy policy reforms, renewable energy, energy efficiency in the electricity and petroleum sectors, low-carbon fuels, low-carbon transport, solid waste management, green finance, climate adaptation measures, with a pathway to achieve a mitigation target in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution (37 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030) and installing additional renewable energy capacities to increase the contribution of electricity generation to 42 percent of the energy mix by 2030, and a (seven percent) reduction in greenhouse gases in the transport sector.
