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COP27 CLIMATE SUMMIT IN EGYPT

Egypt launches ‘largest’ campaign to clean up the Nile River

by Radarr Africa September 29, 2022

written by Radarr Africa

Egypt launched on Thursday a campaign to clean up the Nile River, which will hopefully break the Guinness World Record as one of the largest campaigns that seek to preserve waterways.

The campaign, which is the largest to clean up the Nile, managed to remove almost 500 kilograms of plastic rubbish, said Abdel Hamid El-Haggan, governor of northern Egypt’s Qalyubia governorate, which is located in the Nile Delta region.

The campaign was organized by the Youth Loves Egypt (YLE) Foundation and the Egyptian Red Crescent under the auspices of the Ministry of Local Development and the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation.

ALSO READ: Egypt set up committee to ease customs clearance and tax return to participants in COP27

The campaign comes within the frameworks of Egypt’s preparations to host the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh city next November.

In remarks to Egypt Today, Gareth Bayley, UK Ambassador to Egypt, said the campaign is a message to attract everyone’s interest to cooperate together in order to save the planet ahead of the climate summit.

Source: Egypt today

September 29, 2022 0 comment

Africa AFRICA NEWS Business Economy Egypt News North Africa Northern Africa

Egypt set up committee to ease customs clearance and tax return to participants in COP27

by Radarr Africa September 28, 2022

written by Radarr Africa

Finance Minister Mohamed Ma’eit has decided to form a committee, whose job it will be to ease customs clearance and value-added tax return to participants in the upcoming climate summit, COP27, which will be held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm el Sheikh in November.

The committee should group senior officials of the customs and tax authorities, the Finance Ministry said in a statement Sunday.

ALSO READ: Egypt Prepares for Flagship United Nations (UN) Climate Conference

A simplified guide has been issued in Arabic and English about the customs clearance measures and VAT returns to be adopted temporarily upon departure of the participants, read the statement.

Source: Egypt today

September 28, 2022 0 comment

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As COP27 looms, Africa receives a 10th of climate financing it needs

by Radarr Africa September 23, 2022

written by Radarr Africa

As the international climate community prepares for COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, new analysis shows just how far off their host continent is in terms of attracting the finance it needs to adapt to catastrophic global warming, build renewable energy plants, and enhance its carbon-absorbing ecosystems.

At $30 billion, annual climate finance flows in Africa are just 11% of the $277 billion needed, according to research published Wednesday by the Climate Policy Initiative, a US-based nonprofit.

The research was commissioned by FSD Africa, an organization funded by the UK government, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, a charity set up by billionaire hedge fund activist Christopher Hohn, and UK Aid. It’s the first to map climate finance flows in Africa by region, sector, and source, and captures available data for 2019 and 2020.

Top of the agenda at the November UN climate summit in Egypt, known as COP27, will be demands from developing nations for more funding from rich countries to adapt to global warming and a financing mechanism to help them cope with natural disasters and extreme weather events.

In 2009, developed countries committed to $100 billion of assistance for poorer nations every year. They have fallen significantly short of that target.

Africa accounts for a tiny fraction of the world’s carbon emissions but its nations will be among the hardest hit by global warming, already manifested globally in disasters ranging from heat waves in Europe to droughts in the Horn of Africa and floods in Pakistan.

“A report such as this allows us to measure whether the commitments of developed countries to provide finance to developing countries, is indeed being delivered,” said Valli Moosa, deputy chairman and effective head of South Africa’s Presidential Climate Change Coordinating Commission, in a statement.

Private sector finance in particular remains too low, the Climate Policy Initiative said in the report. Companies and commercial financial institutions contributed just 14% of total climate finance received in Africa, much lower than in other developing regions.

Existing flows are highly concentrated, with 10 of the 54 countries on the continent accounting for more than half of Africa’s climate finance. These include Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa.

The Southern African region bears the largest financing gap in absolute terms, attributed by the researchers to the $107 billion annual needs of South Africa alone, combined with one of the lowest regional levels of climate investment. As a percentage of gross domestic product, countries in Central and East Africa face the largest investment gaps.

Investment opportunities

South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised nation, is transitioning from reliance on coal for more than 80% of its electricity to renewable energy, meaning that billions of dollars will need to be spent on new power plants and an expanded electricity grid.

ALSO READ: Egypt launches ClimaTech RUN 2022 initiative

“Public and private actors must act with scale and speed to help bring Africa’s climate goals to fruition,” said Barbara Buchner, global managing director of the Climate Policy Initiative. “Africa offers a wealth of climate-related investment opportunities” and “the social, economic, and environmental benefits which could be realised are even greater,” she said.

Those investment opportunities are spread across a number of sectors, including clean energy plants and agribusiness.

Annual investment in renewable power stands at just 7% of the $133 billion that the International Energy Agency estimates African countries need to meet their 2030 energy and climate goals, according to the research. Agriculture and forestry investments are also falling short of financing needs.

Source: Bloomberg

September 23, 2022 0 comment

Africa AFRICA NEWS Business Economy Egypt Energy News North Africa Northern Africa

Egypt Prepares for Flagship United Nations (UN) Climate Conference

by Radarr Africa September 5, 2022

written by Radarr Africa

Regional authorities in Egypt, the host country of the 2022 UN climate conference (COP27), are ramping up initiatives designed to improve the country’s environmental credentials, and speed up its transition to a low carbon economy. The event will begin on 4 November, in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Several COP27-related initiatives are underway in Egypt: they include projects related to sustainable transport, waste recycling, women’s health, the transition to clean energy, sustainable cities, adaptation measures in the water and agriculture sector, and the links between peace and climate.

“The Egyptian Government recognizes the huge responsibility of organizing a successful conference”, says Dr. Samir Tantawy, a climate change expert at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). “The summit needs to demonstrate the damage caused by the climate crisis, particularly in developing countries. For example, the Aswan Governorate, in southern Egypt, has experienced storms, snow and heavy rain for the first time. Developing countries need to be properly compensated”.

Beyond COP27, Egypt is working towards a 2050 national climate strategy, which is based around the reduction of emissions in all sectors, and adaptation to potential changes in the climate – in agriculture, water resources, coastal areas, and health.

The national strategy also aims to bring civil society, the government, and citizens together, at the local, regional, and national levels. A number of civil society organizations are participating in workshops and seminars to raise awareness of the summit, in the hope that it will help Egypt to achieve its climate strategy goals.

In preparation for the Climate Summit, the regional authorities in the Red Sea Governorate, in cooperation with a number of other state organizations, is holding a series of events aimed at raising awareness of environmental and sustainability concerns. These workshops will continue through to November, and the opening of the Conference.

ALSO READ: Egypt set to resume government IPO program

Egypt’s hosting of COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh is seen as a great opportunity to promote international climate action, and to unify the demands of African and developing countries, particularly when it comes to issues of financing, and adaptation to the effects of climate change.

UN News will provide full coverage of COP27, including news and features, and a daily episodes of our flagship news podcast The Lid Is On. Subscribe on all major podcast platforms.

Source: AfricanBusiness

September 5, 2022 0 comment

Africa AFRICA NEWS Business Business and Economy Energy News Nigeria Western Africa

Nigeria launches energy transition plan

by Radarr Africa August 25, 2022

written by Radarr Africa

The federal government of Nigeria has launched Nigeria’s energy transition plan as a major pathway in achieving universal energy access by 2030 and a carbon-neutral economy by 2060.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, at the global launch on Wednesday, said the plan was designed to tackle energy poverty and climate change crisis, as well as deliver sustainable development goal seven (SDG7) by 2030 and net zero by 2060.

He said the plan will, among other things, lift 100 million people out of poverty, reduce Nigeria’s carbon footprint, drive economic growth and create jobs.

He added that it is time for Nigeria and the African continent to take ownership of transition pathways and design climate-sensitive strategies that address peculiar growth objectives.

“There is a clear need for African nations to engage more critically and vocally in conversations on our global climate future,” he said.

“More importantly, we need to take ownership of our transition pathways and design climate-sensitive strategies that address our growth objectives. This is what Nigeria has sought to do with our energy transition plan. The plan was designed to tackle the dual crises of energy poverty and climate change and deliver SDG seven by 2030 and net zero by 2060.

“While centering the provision of energy for development, industrialization and economic growth, we anchored the plan on key objectives, including lifting 100 million people out of poverty in a decade, driving economic growth, bringing modern energy services to the full population and managing the expected long term job loss in the oil sector due to global decarbonisation.

“Given these objectives, the plan recognises the role of natural gas in the short term to facilitate the establishment of this low energy capacity and address the nation’s clean cooking deficit in the form of LPG.

“The plan envisions vibrant industries powered by low carbon technologies, streets lined with electric vehicles, and livelihoods enabled by sufficient and clean energy. The plan has the potential to create about 340,000 jobs by 2030 and 840,000 jobs by 2060. And it presents a unique opportunity to deliver a true low carbon and rapid development model in Africa’s largest economy.”

Osinbajo said the transition plan requires a significant scale of resources which includes spending $410 billion by 2060.

“Nigeria would need to spend $410 billion above business as usual spending to deliver a transition plan by 2060 which translates to about $10 billion per year,” he said.

The vice-president added that Nigeria has set up an inter-ministerial energy transition implementation working group and is “currently engaging with partners to secure an initial $10 billion support package ahead of COP27”.

Source: Thecable

August 25, 2022 0 comment

Africa AFRICA NEWS Business Egypt News North Africa Northern Africa Technology

Egypt launches ClimaTech RUN 2022 initiative

by Radarr Africa August 23, 2022

written by Radarr Africa

Ministries of International Cooperation, Environment and Communications held an event Monday to launch the global initiative“ClimaTech Run 2022”.

The ClimaTech Run 2022 aims to attract and motivate technology startups working in the field of combating climate change.

This aim will be achieved through innovative solutions and sustainability, in light of the preparations for the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) will be the 27th United Nations Climate Change conference, to be held from 6 to 18 November 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

The initiative is being launched in partnership with the USAID, the African Export-Import Bank, the World Food Program, Google, the United Nations Population Fund, General Motors, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Microsoft, Falcon Startups, and other partners.

“This event sends a powerful message that through innovation, startups, and youths, we can better our environment, for our lives and for the future generations as well,” Minister of Communication Amr Talaat said during the launch of the initiative.

Talaat added that ICT is based on innovation, noting that “the more we think innovatively , the more we succeed.”

He also said that his ministry built 12 incubators throughout the country to receive youths and help and support startups in order to achieve their dreams.

According to the Communication Minister, his ministry works on several initiatives to improve the environment from a technology perspective, referring to the partnership with the Ministry of Environment in the e-waste initiative.

He concluded his speech by emphasizing the importance of having Africa as the center of the coming COP27, and pointing to the significance of digital arts which made the ministry to inaugurate a faculty for it.

For her part, Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad said, during her speech, that there are many innovative ideas that have been implemented recently to reduce pollution and address climate change, including the project of participatory bicycles at Fayoum University and the university city, and the launch of the “E-tadweer” application to collect electronic waste.

E-Tadweer is the first national digital platform that empowers the supply chain for the recycling industry, as well as decreasing the environmental impact of e-waste contamination on the environment, according to the Application home page. It provides Drop Off points at its partners locations for the customers to drop off their e-waste and gives its users e-vouchers as a reward.

Fouad pointed out that all pioneering youth ideas in those environmentally friendly fields are adopted.

She added that the climate change crisis and its impact has become an undeniable fact, as climate changes affect every home in the world.

Minister of International Cooperation, rania Al-Mashat, affirmed on having all youth from all over the world to participate in the initiative, describing it as “global initiative not a local one”, pointing to the COP where all wanted for the youths from all over the world to be able to actually connect through it.

“Today’s launch of a website enables the youths to submit the proposals which will be available for one month till September 22. A shortlist will be announced on Oct 5,” Al-Mashat elaborated. She noted that the journey of the initiative will actually start in November when the shortlisted will gather and connect in bootcamps.

The minister expressed her hope that the submitted projects would be used to benefit the environment.

“We seek to access various opportunities in the agricultural fields, water resource management, and how to adapt the environment in order to address climate change,” she added.

Al-Mashat added that we are all diverse and different, but we have one goal and that is to protect our planet.

Source: Egypt today

August 23, 2022 0 comment