Is Egypt serious about combating climate change?

A few months ago, the green city of Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt hosted the most important meeting for taking action towards climate change, COP 27.

A few months ago, the green city of Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt hosted the most important meeting for taking action towards climate change, COP 27. This summit was partially successful in saving the rights of vulnerable countries through the establishment of a historic loss and damage fund, but did the government of the hosting country take any actions to counter the disastrous effects of this phenomenon? 

Egypt's main climate change mitigation policies are outlined in its 2030 low emissions development strategy, which is not available online for evaluation. The country has begun to add green figures to its public budget. For example, there is a criteria for environmental sustainability standards in public investment projects. Last October, the American company "ENR" for engineering consultancy has chosen the project to develop the southern villages of 'Toshka' in Egypt as the best environmental project in the world (Sky News, 2022). 

There is a governmental plan to increase the level of green investment from 15% to 50-60% by 2024/2025 (Ministry of Environment, 2020).  Following that, Egypt's energy sector took a step toward a greener future with its green transition plan, which aims to increase renewable energy production to 24% by 2035 (Egypt's oil and gas industry, 2022).

However, Egypt does not have a climate law. It has an environmental law (105/2015) with the intention of adding a chapter on climate change, and a law for the production of electricity from renewable resources (203/2014) to increase energy production from renewable sources. Following that, the question of how much power the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) has to drive climate action, such as low-carbon development arises.

In fact, Egypt's agenda does not prioritize decarbonization, cutting GHS emissions, or transitioning to net zero emissions. In contrast, the Egyptian government has stated that increasing natural gas production is a top priority. Since 2014, the country has completed over USD 70 billion in fossil fuel development transactions (CAT Climate Governance Series: Egypt, March 2022).

Due to a fuel shortage, the Egyptian government has used coal in the industry since 2010. (Egyptian Prime Minister, 2015). As a result, CO2 emissions have increased from 1 MtCO2 in 2016 to 13 MtCO2 in 2018. (IEA, 2019).  On the other hand, the Egyptian government makes no visible efforts to raise public awareness of climate change, which is low; only 40% of Egyptians believe they know at least a moderate amount about climate change (Leiserowitz & Carman et al, 2021).

There is also no specific plan to incorporate climate change education into the educational curriculum. Although there is a civil society in Egypt that works on raising public awareness and climate mitigation, its impact is limited due to limited funding and the restricted environment for work with legislation (EIPR 2016; Human Rights Watch, 2019).

References

1. CAT Climate Governance Series, Egypt. (2022). An assessment of the government’s ability and readiness to transform Egypt into a zero-emissions society. https://climateactiontracker.org/publications/climate-governance-in-egypt/  
2. Egyptian Prime Minister. (2015). Prime Minister’s Decree No. 964/2015. Retrieved from http://extwprlegs1.fao.org/docs/pdf/egy152819.pdf  
3. IEA. (2019). Egypt Country Profile. from https://www.iea.org/countries/egypt  Ministry of Environment. (2020). Accessed on 3 January 2023. 11.21 pm. https://www.eeaa.gov.eg/en-us/mediacenter/newscenter.aspx?articleID=6447  
4. Leiserowitz & Carman et al. (2021). International Public Opinion on Climate Change. New Haven, CT: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and Facebook Data for Good. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/international-climate-opinion-february-2021d.pdf  
5. EIPR. (2016). Mapping of Environmental Organizations in Egypt. https://eipr.org/sites/default/files/reports/pdf/environment_map_egy.pdf
6. Human Rights Watch. (2019). Egypt: New NGO Law Renews Draconian Restrictions. https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/24/egypt-new-ngo-law-renews-draconian-restrictions   
7. Sky news. (2022). Why was the Toshka project in Egypt chosen as the 'best environmental' in the world Accessed on 3 January. 2023. 10.03 pm. https://bit.ly/3VCtUKF
8. Egypt oil & gas. (2022). Al-Mashat: Green Hydrogen Egypt’s Next Great Private Investment Opportunity.  At: https://egyptoil-gas.com/news/al-mashat-green-hydrogen-egypts-next-great-private-investment-opportunity/ Accessed on 3 January 2023. 10. 58 pm.