UN Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt Mahmoud Mohieldin. Photo courtesy of Mohieldin Media Office
Mohieldin, will participate in the second Africa Regional Forum on Climate Finance in Kenya in September
The UN climate champion made his remarks ahead of the forum’s preparatory meeting, which will be held on Monday in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire on the sidelines of the African CEO Meeting.
According to Mohieldin, who is also the UN special envoy on financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the forum’s projects aim to achieve climate goals and sustainable development.
Earlier, Mohieldin stated that the five regional roundtables aim to close 10-15 deals across five regions in preparation for COP28, which is set to be held in the UAE in November and December. He added that they are currently engaging with project proponents, to help them meet the needs of financiers, and with financiers to encourage them to review the opportunities
The forum is one of the five major events of the second edition of the Five Regional Forums Initiative, which is being organized by Egypt and UAE – respectively presidents of COP27 and COP28 – in cooperation with UN Regional Economic Commissions and UN High-Level Climate Champions (HLCs).
The list of projects includes:
- An electric transportation project implemented by Oanda Clean Energy Ltd in Nigeria, which aims to bring electric buses to Nigeria and establish electric charging stations and necessary infrastructure. The cost of the project is about $196 million with revenues during the first five years of operation expected to reach about $1.7 billion. Moreover, the project is supposed to create about 5,000 jobs a year during this period.
- A carbon credit project implemented by Imperative Global and iRise, which aims to restore about 40,000 hectares of indigenous forests in Malawi and providing improved cookstoves for about 486,000 households. The evaluated cost of the project is about $180 million.
- A waste-to-power plant project in Nigeria implemented by Phoenix Edison at a cost of $116 million. The project aims to exploit 270,000 tons of solid waste per year for power generation, which will contribute to reducing harmful emissions by 60,000 tons per year and provide hundreds of jobs.
- A project implemented by Ampersand to bring electric two-wheeled vehicles to the street in Rwanda and Kenya along with electric charging stations and necessary infrastructure. The aim of the project is to reduce harmful emissions by about 1.7 million tons until 2030 and improve air quality in rural areas of East Africa. The estimated cost of the project is about $100 million.
- A $90 million worth project implemented by Ziz Energie in Chad to deploy solar receiving units and generate electricity in a large number of urban and rural areas. The project aims to deliver electricity to around one million people and reduce carbon emissions by 26,000 tons by 2030.
- A $3 million worth project implemented by Safi Organics in Kenya to benefit from the local resources of cities and villages in producing fertilizers through small manufacturing plants. The project is expected to benefit around three million farmers until 2030 and reduce at least five million tons of harmful emissions annually.
First edition of five regional roundtables
In July 2022, Egypt, as the President of COP27, unveiled an initiative to host five regional roundtables to catalyze investments in various climate sectors.
These roundtables were organized by Egypt in collaboration with UN regional committees and UN HLCs.
The inaugural and second roundtables were held in Addis Ababa and Bangkok in August, followed by the third and fourth roundtables in Santiago and Beirut in September.
The final roundtable of the first edition took place in Geneva towards the end of the same month.
The Egyptian initiative has put climate projects, investors, companies, international financing entities, development banks and other stakeholders at one table with the aim of actually implementing projects that help achieve climate action goals.
The roundtables addressed investment opportunities in the sectors of food, water, irrigation, increasing agricultural productivity, new and renewable sources of energy and its infrastructure.
The initiative resulted in a number of very special and various projects that reflect the regional priorities and represent promising opportunities of investment and financing, according to previous remarks by Mohieldin.
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