On the sideline of the Egypt Energy Show (EGYPES 2024), the Sustainability in Energy Conference was held with the participation of Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla and Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad.
During the ministerial session entitled “Egypt’s Roadmap for Promoting Green Energy Goals and Reducing Emissions”, El-Molla stated that changing the name of the conference to become Egypt Energy Show reflects the Ministry’s vision towards the energy sector’s role in improving the standard of living of citizens while reducing carbon emissions.
He pointed out that the Egyptian government continues to direct economic reforms to serve the country’s efforts for clean energy, in addition to improving the investment environment in the country by enhancing the role of the private sector and supporting investment in energy projects.
He noted that Egypt last year updated its goal of generating electricity from Renewable energy to reach 60% by 2030, in addition to reducing emissions in the oil and gas sector through flare gas recovery.
El Molla stated that Egypt has issued the first green bonds in the region to finance projects in green transportation and sustainable water management. He added that Egypt has updated the sustainable energy strategy to extend to the year 2040 which reflects the greater rate of electricity generation from renewable sources and the role that green hydrogen can play as a clean source of energy.
“We have always emphasized the oil and gas sector’s commitment to supporting global efforts to overcome the energy crisis. Since energy companies are part of the climate challenge, we believe they must be part of the solution,” said El Molla. “According to this vision, we succeeded in organizing a day to reduce carbon emissions during the COP27 climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh. This was the first time that oil and gas companies were involved during climate conferences to search for solutions and measures to reduce emissions,” he added.
He pointed out that this strategy symbolizes the continuous cooperation between Egypt’s ministries of Petroleum and Environment as the energy sector follows the global and local environmental standards whether in the different oil and gas institutions or the mining activities
The Minister also explained how the oil and gas sectors are committed to enhancing cooperation in the field of carbon capture, storage, and use to achieve the global climate goals.
He said that the energy sector strategy to reduce carbon is based on six main pillars that direct the country’s plans and projects towards reducing carbon emissions and achieving the energy transition.
These pillars form the Ministry’s initiative to reduce carbon emissions and enhance energy efficiency in line with the outcomes of the COP28 climate summit as the minister noted. According, the Ministry has allocated special sessions during EGYPES this year to deal with means of reducing carbon intensity.
“Thanks to its position as a crossing point between continents, Egypt has the opportunity to be a major supplier of hydrogen to the region as well as to the world, matter which contributes to supporting the economy and raising and improving its position in the map of global energy,” El Molla said.
El-Molla added that hydrogen production is consistent with Egypt’s strategy to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change. “Localization of hydrogen production is also a good opportunity for Egypt to support the economy and attract investments. Egypt realizes the importance of developing a low-carbon economy to benefit from its competitive position as a regional energy center and to become a regional hub for hydrogen production in the medium and long term,” he said, referring to a national strategy for the production of low carbon hydrogen currently being conducted by the government and to be announced soon.
Given the huge challenges of climate change, Minister El Molla affirmed the need of cooperation between all stakeholders in both the energy and the environment sectors to achieve the common climate goal along with securing the energy that the world needs to achieve prosperity in societies.
For her part, Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, stated that this year’s conference links supply and demand and discusses the comprehensive energy mix, both traditional and nontraditional. She added that the country aims to reduce gas emissions in the oil and gas sector by 65%.
She stressed the necessity of understanding the needs of future generations, as well as understanding the necessity of cooperation and partnerships, and that each party has a role assigned to it.
“Egypt has begun its efforts in the field of combating climate change by raising the National Climate Change Council to the level of the presidency of the Council of Ministers, which is an important step in explaining Egypt’s journey with climate action,” said Fouad noting that, “This is an important step to coordinate efforts between the various parties in the country, and then we set National climate change strategy.
She added Egypt’s strategy includes providing natural gas as an alternative, and it has successfully delivered gas to 15 million housing units.
She pointed out the success of several companies operating in the oil and gas sector in Egypt in launching energy efficiency units within their work, and this is the first step in how to make this transformation.
She pointed to the studies issued by the Climate Summit, Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDR) with the World Bank, which confirmed the need for more than $44 billion until 2030 to complete the transformation journey for all energy sources.
“We need more flows and investments, in addition to political commitment at the highest level, represented by the National Council for Climate Change and the National Council for Low Carbon Hydrogen,” she concluded.
