Gov’t outlines climate strategy: The Madbouly government launched its new national climate strategy at a press conference on Thursday (watch, runtime: 12:27) as it gears up to host the COP27 climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh in November. The strategy feeds into the state’s Vision 2030 sustainable development plan and aims to reduce harmful emissions and prepare the country to withstand the impact of a warming climate, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said in his speech at the strategy’s launch, according to a cabinet statement.

The strategy at a glance: While the details of the strategy have not yet been released, the government laid out its five key goals in broad strokes at Thursday’s launch — and in a document (pdf) released earlier by the Environment Ministry. They are:

• Achieving sustainable growth while reducing emissions;
• Building resilience and adaptability to climate change;
• Improving governance and assigning roles to various bodies to help mitigate the impacts of climate change across sectors;
• Improving financial infrastructure to pay for climate projects;
• Strengthening scientific research and technology transfer, and spreading awareness about climate change.

Why we need this: Despite producing no more than 0.6% of the world’s total emissions, we are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change on our coasts, water resources, health, population, and infrastructure, Madbouly said.

Long-term spending targets: The government wants to spend USD 211 bn on mitigation and USD 113 bn on adaptation by 2050. The money will be deployed in key sectors including energy, transport, agriculture, and water.

Where will the money come from? Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad suggested at the presser it will be a combination of private investment, funding through the state budget, and contributions from developed economies. The government didn’t break down where the money will be spent or a roadmap for how it plans to pay for it all.

Other aims: The strategy will also focus on upping new and renewable energy projects, maximizing energy efficiency, and adopting methods for sustainable production and consumption, Fouad said, adding that the government will also look to earmark funding for women-led climate change projects.

The strategy lines up neatly with our COP priorities: The government has repeatedly pointed to mitigation, adaptation, and securing finance from developed nations and private-sector players to help developing countries (especially in Africa) combat climate change as being the key focus for this year’s summit.

But we’ve seen no hard targets yet: The government did not unveil any new national targets to reduce greenhouse emissions at Thursday’s launch. Egypt will in the coming weeks announce its revised nationally determined contribution (NDC) where it will commit to new emissions targets. The last NDC we submitted was in 2017 and it did not include binding targets for specific emissions reductions.

We already have a renewables target: The government has set an ambitious goal of seeing 42% of the country’s electricity generated from renewable sources by 2035, up from around 10% currently.

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SCZone to sign green fuel agreements on the sidelines of COP27: The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) will sign final agreements at COP27 on the USD 10 bn of Ain Sokhna green fuel projects it has lined up with international companies, SCZone chairman Yehia Zaki said, according to a statement.

MEANWHILE- The European Investment Bank (EIB) could invest in desalination projects in Egypt, official news agency MENA quoted EIB consultant Walid Salim as saying. No further details were provided.