Planning Ministry, UNDP organize a workshop to enhance greening national investments

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), held recently a virtual workshop entitled “Stimulating the shift towards greening national investments,” with the participation of specialized experts in the field of climate and finance.

 

The workshop was opened by Dr. Mona Essam, Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development Affairs, in the presence of Dr. Jamil Helmy, Assistant Minister of Planning and Economic Development for Sustainable Development Plan Follow-up Affairs, Dr. Imad Morsi, Director of Project Feasibility Studies at the Ministry, and Dr. Ahmed Ashour, Supervisor of the National Accounts Unit.

During her opening speech, Dr. Mona Essam stressed that sustainable development and climate change are urgent and interconnected issues that countries have committed to addressing through adopting the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.

Essam explained that progress towards achieving sustainable development goals and climate goals faces a common challenge: insufficient financial resources, pointing to the fundamental links between climate action and development, which require coherence between climate financing and development to enhance their effectiveness.

Essam stressed the need for a fundamental shift in how governments deal with achieving the interconnection between climate finance and development to facilitate green and just transition and integrate development projects with climate plans.

Dr. Mona Essam added that improving the effectiveness of public spending and shifting public financial flows towards green projects contributes to achieving sustainable development goals and climate goals and thus moving towards more sustainable and resilient societies.

Mona Essam pointed to Egypt’s role in achieving this goal, with the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development launching the “Friends of Greening National Investment Plans in Africa and Developing Countries” initiative as one of the pioneering initiatives of the COP27 presidency.

  She further explained that the initiative calls for strengthening the concept of greening national investment plans as an essential part of the complete transition towards a green economy, which contributes to accelerating the achievement of sustainable development and the Paris Agreement.

Mona Essam added that the capacity-building session held is one of the important steps to implement the initiative’s goal of enabling countries to green their national investment plans.

   The session aims to expand the knowledge base of policymakers and enhance their capabilities by proposing tools, technical methods, and methodologies used to green national investment plans.

For his part, Dr. Jamil Helmy, Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development Plan Follow-up Affairs, during the session entitled “Countries’ Experiences in Greening National Investment Plans,” touched on Egypt’s launch of a sustainable development strategy, with a focus on the three main interconnected and integrated dimensions.

Helmy continued that the principle of sustainability represents one of the basic principles of the planning system in Egypt, stressing the need for all public units to submit economic, social, and environmental feasibility studies when submitting their proposals for financing to the Ministry of Planning.

Helmy also pointed out that the Ministry launched the Environmental Sustainability Standards Guide, which was done in partnership with all ministries and concerned authorities, especially the Ministry of Environment, and is considered the first of its kind in the strategic framework for green recovery.

Helmy added that the Environmental Sustainability Standards Guide leads all relevant ministries to adopt the green transformation in Egypt, and consists of more than 185 green interventions and 180 key performance indicators covering all executive ministries in Egypt.

Helmy also stressed that when providing financing, priority is given to financing green projects identified by the guide or those that support the trend towards green construction goods in project design and implementation in a way that takes into account environmental sustainability standards through safe disposal of waste and noise management even in environmentally friendly equipment.

Dr. Gamil Helmy also highlighted what the state is doing to green sector planning in Egypt, and the green strategies that have already been launched, including the National Climate Change Strategy in Egypt 2050.

Helmy referred to the role of the Ministry of Planning in linking public investments with sectoral strategies, by enhancing the role of public investment in implementing the national climate change strategy.

  Helmy pointed out that EGP 410 billion was allocated during the fiscal year 22/23 to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change in the investment plan, representing about 40% of total public investments.

Helmy also discussed the ministry’s role in the Decent Life Initiative and the projects it is working on within the initiative.

  Helmy referred to projects to rehabilitate and line canals, wastewater treatment plants, water plants, groundwater, and optical fibers at the local level, as well as providing rural areas with natural gas interventions in agricultural services to enable their adoption.

The aforementioned workshop came within the framework of the “Friends of Greening National Investment Plans in Africa and Developing Countries” initiative, which was launched on the sidelines of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27).

The workshop aims to develop capabilities and exchange experiences regarding greening national investment plans.