By: Moslem Ali
Cairo - Mubasher: It is nearly two years since Egypt signed the Paris Climate Accord that was officially ratified by the Egyptian government nine months ago.
The Paris Agreement aims at establishing the foundation for collective work by all nations around the world to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, in order to reach the ultimate goal of this century, that is to maintain the increase in global temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Climate change is a serious challenge facing our world, so much so that it was considered by the former President of the United States, Barack Obama, as the greatest threat to future generations.
Potential impacts of Climate Change
Egypt is among the countries most concerned with the negative effects of climate change, as only Bangladesh is more vulnerable than the Nile Delta to the rising sea levels resulting from an increase in temperatures by 2 degrees, according to Professor Samer El-Mofty, the former chairman of the Egyptian Desert Research Center (DRC).
For thousands of years, the delta has played a crucial part in Egyptian agriculture, providing crops to millions of Egyptians, as well as being home to nearly 25% of the country's population.
Coastal inundation or saline intrusion could harm this vital part of Egypt, which is why the government is cooperating with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for a project that aims at "Enhancing Climate Change Adaptation in the North Coast of Egypt", by expanding the use of low-cost dikes to prevent flooding from sea surges during extreme weather events, reducing the vulnerability of coastal infrastructure and agricultural assets to coastal flooding damage in Nile Delta, as well as developing and implementing an integrated coastal zone management plan (ICZM) for the entire North Coast of Egypt, according to the UNDP Climate Change Adaptation initiative.
But it is not just the delta, but also the River Nile itself that can be harmed by the consequences of global warming, which could lead to Egypt suffering from water scarcity, especially as the drinking water supply in Egypt is almost entirely dependent on the Nile.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) previously highlighted that the Nile is among the 10 rivers most at risk from climate change, excessive water extraction, invasive species, and pollution.
However, as big as the challenge is, so are the efforts needed to address it.
How to face the challenge?
The energy and transportation sectors are the main sources for greenhouse gases in Egypt, followed by wastes that account for nearly 15% of greenhouse gas emissions across the country.
Work has already begun on renovating the waste management systems in the biggest two cities, Cairo and Alexandria, according to the Egyptian minister of environment, Khalid Fahmy.
Other projects include landfill gas capture, reducing or eliminating N2O emissions from fertilizers and hydrocarbon complexes, as well as switching to better fuels in a number of industrial plants and cement factories, and improving energy efficiency in many projects.
The Egyptian government recently revealed that it is working on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, identifying busses and trucks, especially those that use high sulfur fuel, as the most dangerous when it comes to emissions, and also the total effect on air quality, which led to the transformation towards electric vehicles, with 25 buses in Alexandria signaling a new beginning for the Egyptian public transport system.
As the country is moving towards introducing a new health insurance law that guarantees universal healthcare for all citizens, the government realizes the cost of air and water pollution and its effects on the people's wellbeing.
The Egyptian government also has an ambitious strategy to reduce the carbon footprint of smaller vehicles, with plans that included replacing old Taxis in Cairo with newer cars running on natural gas, as well as the continuous examination of vehicles exhausts at traffic units and roads.
Egypt recently inaugurated its first electric vehicle charging station, taking the first step towards establishing the infrastructure for a complete electric vehicle charging network, that will be the first in the region.
With renewable energy... the future is now
Egypt is a developing country with a growing population that is expected to reach 160 million by 2050, however, the economic challenges should not stand in the way of a full commitment to combating climate change in a proactive manner with increasing financial and technical capacities, and the support of international institutions.
With a growing demand on energy and the need for investments that provide more jobs for the growing young population, Egypt has found its way towards pioneering the region in the use of renewable energy.
Egypt has almost all the needed factors that encourage introducing renewables to the country's energy mix, as it enjoys magnificent renewable energy resources, a fact strongly acknowledged in a previous exclusive interview with the EBRD energy director.
The EBRD among other financers are helping Egypt establish the biggest solar park in the continent.
The rapidly declining costs of solar energy, as well as the strong competition have rendered Egypt's solar industry more attractive on a relative basis globally, according to BMI Research of Fitch Group.
Moreover, the introduction of the feed-in tariff (FiT) program, has encouraged more companies to invest in solar energy in Egypt, especially in the Benban solar complex in Aswan, which is expected to produce more than 1.6 gigawatts (GW) of power after completion.
Aswan is not only a magnificent city where the blue waters of the Nile meet some of the greatest monuments of the ancient Egyptian civilization, but it is also one of the sunniest regions in country and the whole world, with sunshine lasting for nearly half of the day, averaging nearly 3,900 hours per year.
But the southern historic city, which is set to be Africa's capital in solar energy, is not the only promising part of Egypt's renewables program, as near the Gulf of Suez to the east of Cairo, the largest wind farm in Africa and the Middle East is being constructed.
The Suez Gulf is an ideal location for harvesting wind energy, which led to huge investments being pumped into projects such as the Zafarana and Gabal El-Zeit wind farms.
Egypt believes that these projects and more can help achieve the goal of producing 20% of the country’s electricity from renewables by 2022, and 37% by 2035, which could lead to the share of renewables in the Egyptian energy mix exceeding 50% by the 2050s.
