Brief project description:

Egypt is highly vulnerable to climate change that poses several numerous threats to its economic, social and environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the rapid population growth and ambitious development and industrialization plans have put heavy pressures on Egypt’s natural and environmental resources. In that respect, stakeholders have converged towards a low emission development strategy while increasing resilience of vulnerable sectors and groups to climate change. Among these stakeholders, local Fiancial Institutions (Fis) play a key role in scaling up climate finance for local private investments. This project aims to sclae up and intensify financial investments towards more diversified private sector projects on climate technologies and techniques through enabling both public and private sectors’ borrowing by supporting local IFis with removing financial and technical barriers and reinforcing their capacity.

Project objectives:

The main objective of the project is to scale up financial investments into climate actions in Egypt and strengthen Egypt’s capacity to achieve the objectives of the UNFCCC through establishing a MRV system in the Ministry of Environment, the NCCC and line ministries, and developing focal point units within ministries to share common understanding of challenges and opportunities and maintaining the efficient and sustainable operation of the MRV (Measurement, Reporting, and Verification) system. The project will also aim to support local Financial Institutions to develop their capacity in assessing opportunities and challenges of potential climate projects.

 Expected results:

Outcome 1: National Climate Policy monitored and strengthened through Climate Change Units:

Creation of climate units in key ministries and a central coordinating unit at the Ministry of Environment. The project also supports staff in integrating climate priorities into national planning and strengthen the systems used to track emissions, adaptation efforts, and overall climate progress, along with dedicated capacity-building.

Outcome 2: Institutional support provided to conduct technical and feasibility studies on the sectors of priority to assess and improve its bankability:

Conducting sectoral and feasibility studies in priority sectors (tourism, waste management, wastewater/sanitation, transportation), providing capacity building for key entities, and developing a framework for Public–Private Partnerships to support climate projects that can attract investments and funding.

Outcome 3: Project managed, monitored, evaluated and communicated for effective project operations, and sharing accumulated knowledges and lessons learned:

 Setting up a project management unit to oversee operations, regularly monitoring and evaluating progress, carrying out communication and awareness activities to promote the TFSC program, supporting junior government officials’ participation in international climate meetings, and developing educational games to raise environmental awareness among school students in protected areas. 

Project achievements:

The TFSC objectives are aligned with Egypt’s National Climate Change Strategy (NCCS) 2050, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Egypt Vision 2030, and they respond to current national and sectoral institutional needs related to climate change.

The TFSC project directly supports key pillars of the NCCS 2050, particularly:

• Enhancing infrastructure for climate finance, which focuses on mobilizing public and private financing for climate mitigation and adaptation; and

• Improving governance and climate change management, which aims to strengthen institutional frameworks, promote coordination across different levels of government, ensure transparency and accountability, and encourage stakeholder participation, including civil society and the private sector.

Accordingly, the project is working with 17 Ministries and 2 Entities to establish Climate Change Units, through developing Gap Analysis report and Action Plan for each Ministry.

Also, TFSC is working on establishing a Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system within the Ministry of Environment and relevant line ministries, as well as developing climate change units within Egyptian ministries to ensure the efficient and sustainable operation of the MRV system. The project is also developing a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system to support national efforts on climate adaptation.

Furthermore, the project has developed a technical study to support strategic decision-making related to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Egypt. In addition, two Project Identification Forms (PIFs) have been prepared for submission to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), focusing on the upscaling of decentralized renewable energy technologies and the Low Emission Buildings Project.