The Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA), a technical assistance programme funded by the UK government, will support promising low-carbon projects in Egypt and connect them with investors.
Applications for the four-year programme will open next month, with each accelerator cycle for the selected project developers lasting six to nine months.
It comes at a time when Egypt is working to encourage investment in green energy projects, as it prepares to host the Cop27 UN climate change conference in Sharm El Sheikh in November.
“We’re really excited to see the kind of projects that are out there in Egypt,” Alex Clarke, technical lead for the CFA, said at the launch of the programme on Monday.
Founded in 2017, the CFA has supported more than 50 projects across a variety of sectors in Colombia, Nigeria, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa, Peru and Pakistan.
While the CFA does not itself provide grants, the £10 million ($11.8m) programme is funded by International Climate Finance (ICF) through the UK government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The CFA “is part of the UK’s efforts to support climate action by providing practical ways to help governments in middle-income countries finance and deliver their commitments under the Paris Agreement”, the British government said.
The pact, adopted by 196 countries at Cop21 in 2015, set a goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
At the time, developed countries committed to providing $100 billion per year in climate finance from public and private sources to support developing countries. As part of this commitment, the UK pledged to provide at least £5.8bn between 2016 and 2020.
However, climate finance has been a point of contention and is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion at Cop27.
Egypt, for example, faces a funding gap of about $250bn out of the $324bn it requires to introduce the mitigation and adaptation measures outlined in its National Climate Change Strategy 2050.
The country has “many projects that are already under way to steer the country towards an environmentally friendly future”, Sara Lemniei, managing director of SLK Capital in London, said on Monday.
Many are funded by large institutional investors, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation and the Africa Development Bank, as well as the private sector.
“However, given the enormous financing requirements, the scale that is needed to ramp up climate action and advance the sustainable development goals [SDGs] is just not there,” Ms Lemniei said.
The CFA will help to bridge “the gap disconnect between investors and projects in need of investments”.
Projects will be selected by Egyptian and international experts based on four main criteria: climate mitigation potential, project maturity, financial structuring, and gender equality and social inclusion.
The most important is climate mitigation potential, which is “the central driving force of the CFA”, Mr Clarke said.
In terms of maturity, businesses should be “beyond the proof-of-concept stage and ready to begin speaking to investors”.
The CFA is looking at projects with a ticket size of at least $1m “and ideally a bit larger than that”.
Partners on the ground include Acumen Consulting, an Egyptian managing consultancy specialising in supporting small and medium enterprises, and Genesis Analytics, based in Johannesburg.
The CFA will publish a landscape map of Egypt's climate finance demand and supply, as well as listing relevant stakeholders, in the coming weeks.
Once the selection process is complete in October, projects will go through the CFA capacity-building process and receive support from technical, financial and gender and social inclusion experts in the first quarter of 2023.
This will be followed by an event in London, bringing together project proponents and financiers.
The aim is for “businesses to meet investors and build their understanding of what it is that investors are looking for, as well as for investors ... to really gain access to a pipeline of investable opportunities in the climate space”, Mr Clarke said.
MORE ON THE US DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Scoreline
Liverpool 3
Mane (7'), Salah (69'), Firmino (90')
Bournemouth 0
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE jiu-jitsu squad
Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Film: In Syria
Dir: Philippe Van Leeuw
Starring: Hiam Abbass, Diamand Bo Abboud, Mohsen Abbas and Juliette Navis
Verdict: Four stars
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
more from Janine di Giovanni
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WandaVision
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany
Directed by: Matt Shakman
Rating: Four stars
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
THE BIO
Ms Al Ameri likes the variety of her job, and the daily environmental challenges she is presented with.
Regular contact with wildlife is the most appealing part of her role at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi.
She loves to explore new destinations and lives by her motto of being a voice in the world, and not an echo.
She is the youngest of three children, and has a brother and sister.
Her favourite book, Moby Dick by Herman Melville helped inspire her towards a career exploring the natural world.
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
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The five new places of worship
Church of South Indian Parish
St Andrew's Church Mussaffah branch
St Andrew's Church Al Ain branch
St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais
Church of the Virgin Mary and St Paul the Apostle, Ruwais
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
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