Environment in 2024 "Towards a circular economy and a just green transition"

The great development witnessed by the environmental sector in Egypt during the era of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic, at the national level, and the growing Egyptian role in the field of the environment on the regional and global arena during the past years, paved the way for the green transformation in Egypt, and placed it among the priorities of the state’s agenda. Since assuming the portfolio of the Ministry of Environment, Dr. Yasmine Fouad has been keen to mobilize various Efforts that enhance the green transformation in Egypt, starting with the keenness to integrate the environmental dimension into all development sectors of the Egyptian state, and taking quick steps in cooperation with all concerned parties and development partners towards achieving sustainable development, enhancing investment opportunities in the environment, and partnering with the private sector to encourage them to provide more Green investments, from the standpoint of preserving natural resources and using them sustainably, while working to confront global environmental challenges such as climate change, establishing the idea of ​​a circular economy, and transforming the environmental sector into a catalyst for investment, by taking many steps to create a favorable investment environment to attract local investments. And foreign. 

Work began to provide a clear and integrated vision of the environmental situation in Egypt and to determine the policies required to be developed to ensure the continuation of Egypt’s journey in green transformation, in light of the efforts of the Ministry of Environment, under the guidance of the political leadership, to change the language of dialogue about the environment. To change the established idea that it is an obstacle to development, so that the environment becomes a catalyst for investment and development, by transforming the environmental challenge into an economic opportunity, and encouraging the involvement of the private sector in environmental and climate investment, by creating a supportive climate by taking a set of measures and implementing a number of models. Realistic partnership with the private sector at the level of small, medium and large enterprises, in preparation for its replication and building on it in various environmental fields. 

This is parallel to working to achieve the objectives of the ninth program of the new government’s program under the title “Ecosystem “Integrated and sustainable”, as the Egyptian state has taken ambitious steps towards building a sustainable environmental system that preserves natural resources and exploits them optimally in accordance with the goals of sustainable development, and the program’s vision is based on implementing a number of sub-programs targeting Addressing the effects of climate change, reducing pollution, developing and sustaining natural resources, in addition to promoting the circular economy, promoting a supportive climate for environmental investment, and improving the rate of greening. 

One of the most important steps in implementing the goals of the Environment Program within the new government’s program is In order to enhance the green transformation path:  -The Ministry of Environment launched a number of community environmental dialogue sessions to introduce various environmental issues and seek opinions on those issues. 

-Issuance of a report assessing green growth policies in cooperation with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the results of the country environment analysis report in Egypt, in cooperation with the World Bank, at the end of the first half of 2024, and the launch of the first version of the Country Climate and Development Report, CCDR, in cooperation with the Ministry of International Cooperation, as the result of a continuous journey of national efforts in cooperation with the World Bank to… Strengthening executive procedures and investment opportunities in cooperation with development partners. 

– Launching the results of the country environment analysis report in Egypt in cooperation with the World Bank to monitor the environmental situation in Egypt, which addressed the topics of the circular economy, green growth, and state policies to provide a supportive climate for them.  

– Starting dialogue sessions to prepare the national strategy for the circular economy. 

– Increasing the number of air pollutant monitoring stations to 121 stations distributed across all regions of the Republic, and the number of associated industrial facilities. The national network for monitoring industrial emissions reached 95 facilities with 497 monitoring points, including many industrial sectors such as the cement industry, fertilizer manufacturing, electric power generation, and iron and steel. In the various governorates, final operating licenses were issued using the advance system, in addition to 20 factories for producing compressed charcoal using the notification system.  -Participation in the “Cairo Bike” project. It is considered one of the most important means of urban transportation within the city center area, with technical and financial support from development partners, to be an addition to the rapid development in the diversity of healthy and environmentally friendly means of transportation, and it includes 26 stations served by 250 bicycles. 

– Increasing the volume of fuel The alternative range from 850 thousand tons annually in 2023 to 1.4 million tons of alternative fuel at the end of 2024.  – Using artificial intelligence to analyze data and anticipate future changes in air quality, and predict the areas most affected by increased concentrations of pollutants as a result of the influence of weather factors, and provide proactive recommendations. 

– Implementing the air pollution management project in Greater Cairo in cooperation with the Bank. The international project is considered one of the most important steps in support of the green transformation in Egypt. The project consists of 6 main components, which are: enhancing air quality management and response system, supporting the activation of master plans for solid waste management in Greater Cairo, reducing public transportation vehicle emissions, enhancing capabilities and change Behavioral and communication, project management, monitoring and evaluation, improving the management of electronic waste and medical care waste to reduce unintended emissions of persistent organic compounds) Obtaining additional funding – a grant from the Global Environment Facility worth $9.31 million.

-Working to increase surface areas Green growth through many measures, the most important of which is the continued implementation of the work of the 100 Million Trees Presidential Initiative, which will continue over 7 years. The planting of approximately 1.5 million trees was completed during the first and second years of the initiative, and is currently being completed. In accordance with the planned timetable, the Ministry of Environment prepared a national dialogue on the implementation of the initiative, to identify national concerns and challenges regarding the implementation of the initiative, in a way that helps strengthen the path of its implementation and leads to achieving the desired goals. 

In light of the global trend Towards a green transformation, and taking many measures paving the way for that, which directly affect the industry as one of the areas affecting the achievement of the green transformation, including carbon footprint requirements and green production, which affect the competitive value of the product. Al-Masry: 

The Ministry of Environment has worked to change the perception of the relationship between industry and the environment, so that the environment becomes an added value to the industry at the level of competitiveness and achieving economic returns. The industrial pollution control program, in its three stages, aims to help the industry develop environmental performance and reduce Consumption of energy and resources with the aim of achieving the principle of sustainability and activating the sustainable production and consumption approach, by helping establishments to achieve compliance with environmental laws and regulations, as he succeeded in financing a number of companies included in the list of projects by financing 300 million euros with a total investment of 550 million euros. 

-Announcement" The Green Sustainable Industries (GSI) Programme, which aims to complement the Ministry of Environment’s journey to help and support industry to improve performance, reduce resource consumption, reduce carbon emissions, and reach compliance with environmental regulations, and through which a mix of loans and grants will be provided to industry with a budget of 271 million euros, The program focuses on projects of efficiency and rationalization of resources, new and renewable energy, and low-carbon hydrogen, as well as carbon removal projects. Environment, which allows administrative authorities to submit studies through the platform and carry out all internal audit processes and stages in an integrated digital manner 

-Preparing a road map for mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions in a number of targeted industrial sectors with the aim of supporting and preparing them to face new international controls. Which will be applied to export operations through the cross-border carbon emission reduction mechanism (CBAM) in the fertilizer, iron and steel, aluminum sectors. And cement. Areas of environmental and climate investment. It also includes an inventory of the sources of technical support from various foreign entities and projects, business incubators, business accelerators, and other entities, in addition to an inventory of the incentives available for green and climate projects in the fields.  

-The Ministry of Environment, through the Environmental and Climate Investment Unit, held a series of interactive dialogue sessions with investors and stakeholders to promote the prepared investment opportunities, including ways to benefit economically from rice straw, available investment opportunities, and access to financing. Green for Egyptian small and medium enterprises. 

-Participation in the integrated system of electric buses (e-bus) through the Greater Cairo Air Pollution Management Project, and completion of the detailed design. Converting the Al-Amiriya garage to operate with electricity. 

– Studying the optimal mechanism for controlling industrial wastewater and reusing it by preparing an integrated technical study on the reuse of treated wastewater in growing plants (jojoba – jatropha – Salicronia) and studying The economic feasibility of each of them in producing biofuels.

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