During a discussion panel organized by Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic on Thursday, August 5, 2021. (Hassan Amar)
Transforming to clean energy will reflect positively on Egypt's energy sector, experts said at a panel organised by Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
The discussion, entitled “Energy prospects in Egypt: Opportunities and challenges,” was held as part of a research project conducted between Al-Ahram centre and the German Fredrich Ebert Foundation on energy transformation in Egypt.
The transformation is expected to generate cooperation opportunities between Egypt and the US, the European Union (EU), and China in energy projects, the experts said.
Egypt has abundant renewable energy sources, financial and legal systems as well as the human resources that qualify the country to expand in green investment, the energy experts added.
However, energy transformation is likely to face more obstacles globally in the near future regarding the fossil fuel export opportunities and the likely decline in global fossil fuel imports due to their negative impact on the climate, they added.
The risks also include the possibility of imposing carbon tax from the EU on imports amid the accelerated actions to deal with climate change and its repercussions, which could hinder Egypt’s export opportunities to access European countries, according to the experts.
Moreover, international financial institutions (IFIs), global sovereign funds, and banks could refuse, going forward, to finance the oil sector’s projects, the experts stated.
They affirmed that these challenges require Egypt to accelerate its transformation to renewable energy and empathised the importance of creating a corporate entity to be responsible for planning energy transformation in Egypt.
Moreover, they called for increasing solar energy and wind energy projects as well as the green hydrogen industry in line with Egypt's strategy to become a regional energy hub.
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