Discussing Egypt’s policies for adaptation to climate change

CAIRO – 1 November 2021: Egypt has taken firm steps towards incorporating solid approach since 2015, to combat the effects of climate change on its environment in line with its 2030 national strategy for sustainable development.

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi participates in the Glasgow Summit on confronting climate change in Britain, where Egypt is implementing a national strategy to confront climate change, which we review in the following report.

 Below are steps taken by Egypt in this regard:

Climate change dimension has been integrated into a larger number of ministries to become one of the pillars of their strategic planning, in addition to working with development partners to attract climate finance in many fields.

Over the past years, Egypt has also searched for the best ways to adapt to the effects of climate change, especially with the increase in extreme weather events.

Among the clear steps is establishing the National Council for Climate Change, which is headed by the Prime Minister to create more political support and closer cooperation between a larger number of directly or indirectly concerned ministries.

Egypt applied to host the COP27 climate conference in 2022, to harness its efforts to host Africa for this important event, and to complete what will result from the COP 26 climate conference.

Egypt worked with member states to draw up a road map for biodiversity beyond 2020 to 2050, and climate change measures cannot be separated from mitigation and adaptation from biodiversity conservation.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated the importance of linking health, climate change and ecological balance.

Progress in the field of renewable energy in Egypt is an important success story to reduce emissions, whether by building renewable energy plants or the main initiative to convert vehicles to work with clean energy (natural gas, electricity), and the new technology for managing solid waste and converting it into energy.

The Ministry of Environment took several measures to end the recurring annual phenomenon known as “Black Clouds,” resulting from the illegal burning of agricultural leftovers, especially rice straw.

This ugly phenomenon, which blankets Egyptian skies with thick black smoke, occurs annually starting from September and until mid-November; the time when farmers harvest the crop and get rid of the leftovers by burning.

The black clouds are also caused by natural factors, including thermal reflection, as well as human factors such as emissions from vehicles and factories.

The ministry’s plan to control air pollution depends on four pillars, including collecting and recycling rice straw in coordination with Ministry of Agriculture, where equipment for chopping, pressing as well as tractors were made available at subsidized prices to be used by farmers and youths.

Solid waste management is among the important climate-related aspects implemented by the country, and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi attaches importance to it.

Egypt protects its coasts from the impact of sea level rise, develops drought-resistant crops, and provides climate-related financing to implement the adaptation component of the NDCs. For renewable energy, it seeks to increase the share of renewable energy in the energy mix will reach 42 percent by the year 2035.

Egypt has also implemented one of the largest photovoltaic power plants in the world with a total capacity of 1.5 gigawatts, and a total investment of $2 billion.