CEDARE & FES resume the policy dialogue on “Financing Energy Transition”
In continuation of the high-level policy dialogues co-organized by the Centre for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung – Egypt Office, and in the framework of their extensive cooperation in the sustainable energy portfolio, a dialogue session on “Financing Energy Transition” was held in Cairo on 12 November 2023.
The session was attended by distinguished representatives of the Ministries of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Electricity, Energy, and Renewable Energy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, international and national corporations working in the field of petroleum and energy from the government and private sectors, development organizations, international and national financing institutions, banks, research centers, and a number of academics, experts and consultants. During the session, the participants discussed available and potential opportunities, shared experiences and shed light on banks’, donors’ and international financial institutions’ pre-requisites to support green investments and fund sustainable energy projects and mega projects aiming for energy transition.
“It is expected that emissions will be mostly attributed to emerging and developing economies unless prompt action is taken to affect greener energy transition. Therefore, international bodies have recommended the need to increase financial flows to low-income countries, as hesitating energy transition in emerging and developing economies is hindering the global efforts addressing climate change and is a real threat to achieving sustainable development goals”, said Dr. Hossam Allam, Regional Director of Sustainable Growth, CEDARE. He added: “As Energy Transition is a national mandate in mitigating climate change and comes on top of the Egyptian agenda, we, at CEDARE, together with our partners in FES mutually focus on creating a common ground between the all stakeholders; the energy sector on one hand, and the donors and financial institutions on the other hand. This will mainly drive a smooth and steady energy transition in Egypt”.
In turn, Eng. Nouran Al-Marsafy, Program Manager at Friedrich Ebert Stiftung-Egypt Office said, “We are keen to tackle the challenges facing the financing sector in energy transition as the participants had an insightful discussion about the financing mechanisms, the role of the donors/banks in stimulating and finding the right people/projects and efficiently achieving the goals locally and globally sought.” She underlined that “Dialogue is an effective tool for trying to find solutions and identify interventions and mechanisms. Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung, in cooperation with CEDARE and all development partners, always seek to address the most pressing topics and create a successful dialogue around them.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Samir Al-Kareish, Energy Transition and Sustainability Consultant and moderator of the dialogue sessions, pointed out that “global warming is currently one of the most prominent threats to communities and ecosystems, the world must decisively reduce carbon dioxide emissions to almost net zero by 2050, which requires allocating extensive investments to achieve this target from a technical perspective”. He added: “Countries must be committed to a firm transition to clean, renewable energy at large, therefore, massive clean electrification must be at the core of decarbonisation pathways, combined with a range of complementary technologies, including clean hydrogen, sustainable bioenergy, and carbon capture and storage.
