Egypt’s Sovereign Fund joins One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds Initiative

CAIRO – 6 October 2021: Egypt's Sovereign Fund has officially joined the "One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds Initiative".

The initiative includes about 18 sovereign funds around the world working together to integrate hedging against climate change risks into the investment decision-making process, in addition to investing in accelerating the transition towards a low-carbon economy, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, according to a press release issued Wednesday.

It announced that the Sovereign Fund of Egypt and three other sovereign funds (the Gabon Fund for Strategic Investments, the Hellenic Foundation for Assets and Participations, and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority) joined the initiative during the fourth annual summit of One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds Initiative headed by French President Emmanuel Macron, held on October 4, 2021.

Ayman Soliman, CEO of the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Egypt, said that the fund's joining the "One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds Initiative" confirms the fund's keenness and commitment to follow the best international standards and practices in making its investment decisions and managing its portfolio to achieve sustainable development in accordance with the objectives of Egypt's Vision 2030 by taking into account all economic, social and environmental dimensions of development.

He pointed out that the Fund's accession to this initiative also enhances the Fund's compliance with the Santiago Principles, which the Fund is committed to applying as a member of the International Forum for Sovereign Wealth Funds since May 2019, which includes the majority of sovereign funds around the world.

Egypt ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in April 2016 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and its candidacy to host the COP27 climate conference was recently announced in order to support the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement.

The “One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds Initiative” was established by six sovereign funds at the inaugural “One Planet” summit in December 2017 in Paris to work towards achieving the following goals: help mobilize the capital of sovereign wealth funds to innovate and expand the market for investment opportunities that enhance alignment with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement (COP 21), and accelerate efforts to incorporate hedging against financial risks and focus on opportunities related to climate change in managing large and long-term asset portfolios.

It also aims to take advantage of the scope and benefits of knowledge sharing, while maintaining flexibility and speed of implementation in managing sovereign fund investments.

The "One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds Initiative" conference is held annually to follow up on the group's work and review the models and applications of sovereign wealth funds in contributing tangibly to achieving the goals of the initiative and the Paris Agreement for the transition towards a low-carbon economy.

The members of the initiative seek to encourage investment partners and investment portfolio management companies with which sovereign funds work to follow in the same direction as the members of the initiative to expand the circle of participation in efforts to reduce carbon emissions, implement investment policies that support this trend and invite more partners to the initiative.

Egypt has recently begun inviting companies listed on the stock exchange and financial companies to apply the standards of hedging against the risks of changing the environment and aligning with international foundations in governance, environment and social communication through standards issued by the Financial Regulatory Authority.