Maysoun Ali: The Egyptian banking sector has a significant role in attaining sustainable development

Yasmine Sakr: Achieving sustainability is a joint responsibility among all parties

Former Egyptian Environment Minister Dr. Khaled Fahmy has disclosed several challenges facing the Egyptian government, which is planned to host the climate summit in Sharm El-Sheikh next November. He additionally pointed out the international rift caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the global economic crisis, which poses a threat to Egypt's summit.

This was revealed during a forum titled "Sustainability and Future Plans" hosted by Edge Innovation Center, an affiliate of Raya Smart Building Company, the real estate arm of Raya Holding. The forum was moderated by Saber Osman, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of “Planetary Climate” initiative for sustainable development and Former Coordinator of the United Nations Framework Convention for climate change and highlighted Egyptian government's efforts in hosting the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 27), how the private sector contributes to collaborating with the government to make the summit a success and achieve sustainability in various fields, and the role of civil society in the issue of climate change, which falls under Edge Center's efforts to raise awareness around sustainability.

During his speech, Khaled Fahmy stated that climate change is a cross-border issue as well as an economic and political issue that needs extensive discussions in order to establish a compromise formula, stressing that there are high expectations for the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, which Egypt will organize along thirteen days during which Egypt will host world leaders and the delegations accompanying them. The event is significant for Egypt, the host country, as well as the anticipated benefits for developing countries, notably African ones.

Fahmy emphasized that while governments throughout the world have pledged to reduce carbon emissions, few have committed to establishing executive strategies to combat this harmful situation, stressing that just 60% of the hoped-for effort has been met. Meanwhile, we haven’t yet reached the dangerous stage of increase in the Earth's temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius, emphasizing that climate change containment and adaptation ranks first in terms of effect and likelihood of happening during the next 10 years among the five most critical hazards confronting the globe.

“The challenge for developing nations in implementing clean growth policies is the lack of adequate funding, which makes it difficult for most of these countries to secure international finance in the form of loans, calling for new financing policies to avoid magnifying the financial challenge for developing countries while also encouraging them to participate in international efforts,” Fahmy emphasized.

Fahmy warned against rich nations attempting to avoid their climate change financial obligations, stating that majority of them indicated that their involvement in financing sustainability challenges would be 25% of government fund, while the rest is private sector-related rather than state-related activities, emphasizing the need to stimulate the private sector to participate in combating climate change by launching policies that motivate it, emphasizing that the private sector will not participate unless it benefits from it.

Maysoun Ali, Commercial International Bank's Head of Sustainability, acknowledged that the bank's goal is to achieve sustainable development in Egypt and to accelerate the transition to a green economy in order to meet future risks.

"To achieve Egypt's 2030 vision, the bank intends to integrate finance solutions with environmental and social criteria, as well as government ideals,” Maysoun added “The bank adopted sustainability policies and encouraged green investments, which resulted in a complete qualitative transformation within the bank.”

Maysoun stated that the Egyptian banking sector plays a meaningful role in promoting sustainable development, citing CBE's confirmation that the direction toward sustainable financing in the banking sector has become one of its priorities in efforts to build and strengthen capabilities to address environmental and social challenges.

" CIB offered many green financing programs aimed at helping clients fund industrial pollution control, new and renewable energy, agricultural projects, and related services and sectors, as well as the green economy financing program,” She added.

Maysoun stressed that achieving sustainable development necessitates the collaborative efforts of all private sector institutions, highlighting the importance of raising awareness among small investors about the importance of integrating environmental and societal dimensions of projects in order to accelerate the transition to a green economy.

Yasmine Sakr, Director of Social Responsibility and Sustainability at Raya, said that achieving sustainable development is a collaborative responsibility of bodies, governments, and individuals, and no one entity can do so alone.

“We are one of the organizations that began incorporating sustainability standards into their projects, and Edge Center and Galleria Mall are two examples of buildings that we have equipped to be ecologically friendly and to meet sustainability goals,” she added.

"Raya founded Egypt's first solid waste facility, which is today one of the largest in the Middle East,” Sakr added, “In addition to the afforestation initiatives that we execute, we have various industries in which we attempt to apply sustainability, such as automotive and electronic payment.”