Egypt’s Planning Minister, NIGSD concludes the “Be an Ambassador” initiative dedicated to ministry officials

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development in cooperation with the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (NIGSD), concluded the “Be an Ambassador” initiative for planning officials.

The initiative was held under the title “Greening Public Investments”, dedicated to planning officials.

During the events, Dr. Jamil Helmy, Assistant Minister of Planning for Sustainable Development Plan Follow-up Affairs, reviewed the efforts made to follow up on the implementation of the Environmental Sustainability Standards Guide, by inventorying the green projects that are being implemented and following up on the performance measurement indicators contained in the guide.

Helmy stressed the importance of directing all ministries to integrate environmental sustainability standards into the project life cycle, starting with the stage of requesting funding and preparing the feasibility study, then granting preference in funding to the type of projects included in the guide, starting with designing the project components and buildings sustainably, then implementing the project in a manner that preserves the environment.

Dr. Hashem Taher, Associate Dean of the College of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire, also reviewed the philosophy of measuring environmental impact, linking the three dimensions of sustainable development when assessing the environmental impact of any project, while clarifying some electronic applications that can calculate the carbon footprint in a simplified manner.

Taher reviewed an applied experiment, which is the London Greening Plan 2050. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Omar Al-Husseini, Professor of Environmental Engineering at the American University of Cairo (AUC), continued by clarifying the mathematical equations to measure the environmental impact while placing equal weights on the economic, social, and environmental dimensions.

The session of Dr. Nasser Ayoub, Professor of Engineering at Helwan University, focused on introducing the concept of the carbon footprint, and applied examples of the carbon footprint of investment projects, starting from the scope of project initiation, the scope of preparation, and the scope of construction.

 Amira Hossam, Assistant Minister of Planning and Economic Development and Coordinator of the (Be an Ambassador) Initiative, and Professor Raneem Amin, Economic Researcher in the Programs and Performance Unit, reviewed the outcomes of the workshop over three days, the most important of which was the necessity of spreading the culture of environmental sustainability and strengthening capabilities at all levels.