How Egypt, host of UN Climate Change Conference COP27, is spurring a domestic ‘green economy’

How Egypt, host of UN Climate Change Conference COP27, is spurring a domestic ‘green economy’

CAIRO: When the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh hosts the COP27 UN Climate Change Conference between Nov. 6 and Nov. 18, the Egyption government will use the occasion to promote its National Initiative for Smart Green Projects. The initiative, launched in August, is designed to encourage foreign investment in Egypt’s many environmental and quality of life projects as part of its Vision 2030 social and economic reform agenda and its National Climate Change Strategy 2050. From an initial 6,280 projects submitted to the platform from across Egypt’s 27 governorates, just 162 made it through to the final round of judging. At a conference in Cairo on Nov. 3, Mostafa Madbouly, the Egyptian prime minister, announced the 18 winning projects. These 18 projects will be exhibited for international delegations at COP27 and will benefit from financial and technical support. The projects were divided into categories, including those related to quality of life, women’s economic empowerment, climate change and sustainability, start-ups, and non-profit community initiatives. They were also divided into categories based on their size. Projects valued at more than EGP200 million were deemed to be large, from EGP50 million to EGP200 million considered medium, and those below EGP50 million