Thursday March 28th, 2024
Download SceneNow app
Copied

Egypt Approves of Green Bonds to Build a Better Future

All for a better environment.

Staff Writer

Egypt will be seeing more eco-friendly projects soon due to the recent approval of the green bond legal framework on July 18, according to Al-Monitor. Mohamed Omran, Chairman of Egypt's Financial Board, announced the approval earlier this month, establishing an article to regulate the issuance of green bonds and contribute to eco-friendly projects. Green bonds are funds which are financed towards bettering the climate and the environment altogether by implementing eco-friendly projects.

Omran said on Wednesday that the Board of Directors will issue the rules and procedures for such issuance, cooperating with the International Finance Corporation (IFC). They will look into the best methods to apply green bonds and their areas of use.

With this approval, Egypt’s financial regulator seeks to fund eco-friendly projects and provide them with the appropriate tools to establish such projects; the projects will cover the fields of renewable energy, construction, transport, sustainable housing, and more. Green bonds are usually provided by international organizations such as the World Bank, a huge issuer of green bonds.

“I think that the decision to issue green bonds in Egypt is very smart and timely because it goes in line with a global tendency toward green projects,” Ahmed Koura, former president of Al-Watany Bank, told Al-Monitor. He added that accepting green bonds will help better Egypt’s communities, creating a more sustainable livelihood.

Green bonds, according to the International Financial Corporation, have reached $155 billion in funds worldwide in 2017 alone; the Climate Bonds Initiative predicts that the number will surpass the $200 billion mark by the end of 2018.

Main image from ESI-Africa.