As the world climate summit now underway in Sharm el-Sheikh is drawing near its conclusion, the issue of green transformation is apparently emerging as one of the big event’s areas of special focus, gaining its importance as a plausible response to global climate change. For many reasons especially including this year’s severe weather conditions, floods and droughts that hit regions across the world, tackling climate change is increasingly requiring multiple approaches; and that is exactly where green transformation fits in. Alluding to the role of green transformation in enhancing action to combat climate change, President Sisi noted in his address to COP27’s inaugural session that the eyes and minds of millions of people around were directed towards the city of Sharm el-Sheikh to follow the conference and its resulting outcomes which would contribute to the “transformation of millions of people’s destinies for the better and the creation of a clean and sustainable environment.”
As concept, ‘green transformation’ mainly refers the process of combining economic and developmental activities with environmental considerations so as to ensure the sustainability of safe and better quality life on our planet Earth. As an approach, it involves a lot many measures, innovations and technologies that share active observance of the terms and conditions deemed necessary for building the aspired sustainability. According to the United Nations Environment Programmes (UNEP), ‘green transformation’ or ‘transition’ refers to the set of economic activities that result in “improved human well-being and reduced inequalities over the long term, while not exposing future generations to significant environmental risks and ecological scarcities.” It follows therefore that green transformation constitues indeed an imperative for improving the quality of life for now as well as for the foreseeable future – all the more so given the manifestations of the global climate change which threaten to disrupt the globally shared aspiration for economic growth and prosperity should the phenomenon be left to continue unbridled.
Pointing to growing awareness of the role of expedited green transformation in curtailing the adverse effects of climate change were so many activities and announcements made during the conference. One such activity was the International Labour Organisation’s launch of a bold partnership to accelerate green job creation for youth, the announcement of a Just Transition Finance Tool on Banking and Investment Activities and the opening of the Just Transition Pavilion. According to an ILO official who spoke to the launch ceremony, green transformation in the areas of clean and renewable energy, construction and sustainable agriculture would create 8.4 million jobs for young people by 2030. Another activity was the World Bank’s presentation of the “Catalysing the Green Digital Transformation” report that highlighted the nexus of digital technologies and climate action, outlining in this context how “greening of the ICT” and “greening with the ICT” can augment action to mitigate climate change effects.
COP27 also saw Egypt presenting some significant aspects of the drive for accelerating the process of green transformation. In remarks during conference events, President Sisi underlined that Egypt is now determined to focus on and increase investments in key green areas and announced the launch of the first phase of a green hydrogen plant in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone). Also pointing to the wide scope of the national green transformation drive was signing last Friday of a memorandum of understanding between the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry and a number of international organisations to support greening of heritage sites and museums through the use of solar energy as a sustainable alternative that does not affect the environment and contributes in achieving the sustainable development goals. On the following day, the Agriculture Ministry presented to the conference the Food and Agriculture Sustainable Transformation (FAST) that aims to achieve the sustainability of food systems by the year 2030. These and likewise projects reflect the state’s orientation that active engagement in green transformation brings about promising opportunities to bolster developmental action in all fields, in addition to contributing to the global effort to mitigate climate change consequences.
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