The World Bank is one of the most prominent international financial institutions with which Egypt co-operates in the field of climate change. Avenues of co-operation include developing policies enacted by the government to overcome the climate change crisis and provide the necessary financial support for sustainable development projects.
More importantly, the Egyptian government always stresses keenness to benefit from the experiences of the World Bank and its studies on climate with the aim to develop effective policies for adapting to climate change.
Ayat Soliman, Regional Director of Sustainable Development Department in the Middle East and North Africa Region gave The Egyptian Gazette details about the WB climate action plan.
The WB has a roadmap from Glasgow to COP27 and COP 28, Soliman said.
“It is going to be extremely important that the countries around the world achieve the emission reduction required for a 1.5 degree and make sure that such efforts are going forward,” Soliman added.
“It is also extremely important to achieve adaptation goals and help countries in their resilience agenda,” she said.
“In the World Bank, we have a high priority of climate action. We have climate action work plan that is worldwide and we have issued number of objectives.
“One is to increase climate financing within the full financing package that the bank is providing to all countries to 35 per cent, which means that 35 per cent of our investments will go to climate projects both adaptation and mitigation, but, in fact, we want adaptation to be 50 per cent of that. Our countries need the support.”
The WB official went on to say that finding architecture to increase the ability of the private sector to finance climate action, green investments and green projects is a big priority as well.
“It is important that Egypt and UAE as the leaders of COP27 and COP 28 to create those global architectures to assist in attracting more finance, because no matter how much finance the governments or the bank put or other multilateral development organisations, the needs are much more,” Soliman said.
“The transition from traditional to clean and renewable energy, the investments in adaptation in transport or agriculture or infrastructure requires trillions of dollars.
“So, we need the banking sector, the private sector, the big corporations and small investors in all these activities.
“For us, the climate finance agenda is extremely important and we look at it from our own financial targets and perspectives.
“We also work on enhancing partnerships and work with other development partners and multilateral development institutions to ensure that the $100 billion commitment is a reality.
“We are also working on ensuring that there are mechanisms at the global level to allow countries to access these resources in a clear, feasible and transparent way,” she said, commenting on the developed countries’ pledge to jointly mobilise a $100 billion to help developing countries face climate change.
Regarding co-operation with Egypt, Soliman said: “The WB is working very closely with the government of Egypt.”
“We have been working on water supply and sanitation. We have supported the agriculture sector in the past. We have also worked on air pollution and climate change with the Ministry of Environment as we have a great programme for the greater Cairo to reduce emissions. It is a strong partnership.”
Soliman went on to say that the WB is compiling a very important report on climate and development that will be issued before COP27.
“This report will look into the main intersection between the climate and development in the next period, meaning what the main risks are and how policies can be prioritised to reduce the risks and maximise opportunities for Egypt and its competitiveness based on low carbon development.
“Adaptation is the main focus but some opportunities in low carbon are also important. Through this report, we can identify priorities that the government might want to look at in the next period.”
The WB official also clarified that there are indicators for the bank’s action plans.
“Climate action plan for the WB has a number of indicators of success that are related to the amount of financing and also the impact of financing. When we did the MENA roadmap, we identified a number of opportunities we would like to take in the next four to five years – investing in renewable energy, helping with energy policy, investing heavily in agriculture and water nature-based solutions nexus and helping with reforms at government level.
“Four years from now, we would like to look back and see how many countries was the bank able to help accomplish all this, and how many countries were informed by our analytics, our reports and our programmes.
“I think in the last five years we have actually put quite a lot of investments in sustainable and climate resilient technologies. In agriculture, we have just completed a programme with Morocco and we have new programme underway in climate, smart and digital agriculture. “There are a number of examples across the region. Definitely we want to look back and showcase it is not just the investment but the outcome as well.”
Regarding private sector, Soliman said that one of the WB arms is the private sector, namely the IFC (International Finance Corporation) which is the bank’s sister organisation.
“They are heavily involved in the Middle East and North Africa. We are creating a number of dialogues and fora on green investments and green finance initiatives. We are also working with the banking sector as the private sector wants to see there are projects that are worthwhile ”
The WB official said: “There are number of viable projects and there are opportunities that should be seized.”
“Young people and entrepreneurs are finding very creative solutions in the space of energy, battery storage, solar power, hydroponics and agriculture solutions. Many can be done both on small and large scales. With innovation, technology and right regulations we can do a lot.”
