Egypt’s Green Economy Forum builds on UN Climate Summit..Environment min., CSR Arabia head stress green economy “a must”

During the inauguration of the Egyptian forum – held under the patronage of the Environment Ministry, Communications and IT Ministry and Trade and Industry Ministry, Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad reiterated that “transformation to green economy is a must” to maintain life on earth.

She said the world is striving to stop environmental deterioration which reached an unprecedented level, citing the dwindling natural resources, climate change, desertification and water and food security crises.

She noted that Egypt succeeded in changing the global climate change agenda by including adaptation as a priority at the 2019 Climate Summit, and convinced 107 countries to sign the political declaration presented by Egypt in this regard. About 73 international organizations also joined the declaration.This crowned Egypt’s efforts to accelerate development transformation in all levels, she said.

She noted that Egypt as a co-chair of the Adaptation Alliance in partnership with the UK and the chair of  the Convention on Biological Diversity is doing its best to place adaptation at the top of climate action agenda.

Fouad also reviewed means of getting youths to join environmental action and putting into effect their innovative ideas, projects and visions vis-à-vis climate change and biological diversity.She added that the ministry is seeking to raise awareness among youths and children about the environment and the importance of protecting the Ozone layer, asserting the importance of getting these issues to be part of educational curricula as well as university graduation projects.

Meanwhile, Board Chairman of CSR Arabia Hassan Moustafa said his company seeks to engage in partnerships in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and adopt up-to-date strategies for transformation toward green economy.

Addressing the forum, Hassan said “transformation toward green economic became a must in view of the challenges besetting the world, especially developing nations.”Hassan referred to poverty and diseases as key challenges facing developing countries.Hassan said “countries seeking to achieve sustainability must adopt green economy.”

He said “Egypt is one of the pioneering countries that adopted Sustainable Development Goals and this is quite clear in its national projects, particularly in the fields of renewable energy, food security and transportation networks as well as sustainable cities like Alamein and the New Administrative Capital.”

Hassan stressed that this is an important stride for achieving sustainable development, adding that the coming generations will reap the fruits of this.

A galaxy of politicians and businessmen attended the event alongside youths and representatives from international organizations and civil societies in order to review  the recommendations issued by the UN Climate Action Summit to see how Egypt can benefit from them.

Major announcements by government and private sector leaders at the United Nations Climate Action Summit boosted climate action momentum, and demonstrated growing recognition that the pace of climate action must be rapidly accelerated.

Sixty-five countries and major sub-national economies such as California committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, while 70 countries announced they will either boost their national action plans by 2020 or have started the process of doing so. Over 100 business leaders delivered concrete actions to align with the Paris Agreement targets, and speed up the transition from the grey to green economy, including asset-owners holding over $2 trillion in assets and leading companies with combined value also over $2 trillion.

Many countries and over 100 cities – including many of the world’s largest – announced significant and concrete new steps to combat the climate crisis. Many smaller countries, including Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries, were among those who made the biggest pledges, despite the fact the they have contributed the least to the problem.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in closing the Summit, said “You have delivered a boost in momentum, cooperation and ambition. But we have a long way to go.” “We need more concrete plans, more ambition from more countries and more businesses. We need all financial institutions, public and private, to choose, once and for all, the green economy.”