El Sisi’s third term comes bearing major green targets: More green hydrogen, morerenewables, and more green investments are only a few of the key green takeaways from the newly-published report (pdf) from the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center. The report outlines the government’s economic strategy for President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s third term, which starts in April.

** In case you missed it, we dove deeper into the more strictly economic aspects of the reporthere in yesterday’s edition.

A higher renewable energy output: The country’s renewable energy output — the amount ofelectricity generated by renewable sources in the country — is expected to make up almost 12% of our total electricity output for the current fiscal year. The report sees the country’s overall electricity output sitting at 228 KWh for the year.

Steps towards pending renewables projects: The report sees the government finalizing a 250 MW-capacity wind farm in the Gulf of Suez during the fiscal year 2023-2024, as well as taking steps towards a 20-MW PV farm in Hurghada and a 50-MW PV farm in Zafarana. The government will also prepare more land plots across the country to house solar power plants.

BIG GREEN HYDROGEN AMBITIONS-

Egypt: A global green hydrogen hub? The government aims to transform Egypt into aregional hub for green hydrogen production by 2026 and a global hub by 2030, with plans to produce 3.2 mn tons of green hydrogen a year by the end of the president’s third term and 9.2 mn tons a year by 2040.

A whole lotta green hydrogen projects: The plan sees the government implementing ninealready agreed upon green hydrogen projects worth a combined EGP 1.9 tn in the Suez Canal Economic Zone by the end of El Sisi’s term. Another batch of 23 projects worth some EGP 3.5 tn is also set for implementation by 2030 — 13 of the projects are awaiting the inking of framework agreements and the other ten are awaiting the inking of MoUs.

In the short term: The Madbouly government wants half of its public investment spending to gotowards green projects by 2025 — last year 40% of the government’s investments went towards green projects. The government also wants to break ground on nine green hydrogen projects in the SCZone in “the short term,” the report said without giving a specific timeline or specifying what the nine projects are.

We have an idea what projects they are talking about: Egypt inked framework agreements worth a combined USD 83 bn during 2022’s COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh with international companies to construct nine green hydrogen and ammonia facilities in the SCZone. The facilities would collectively produce up to 7.6 mn tons of green ammonia and 2.7 mn tons of hydrogen a year when fully operational.

** Enterprise Climate has the full rundown of the agreements here.

Part of a wider plan: The government wants to push its green investments to 75% of its totalinvestment spending by 2030 and have its green economy contribute no less than 5% to its GDP.

To help drum up even more hydrogen investments,the government will introduce a packageof incentives for the industry, granting a series of tax breaks and non-tax incentives to companies implementing green hydrogen projects within five years and deriving a certain percentage of their funding from foreign investors. The incentives received the greenlight from the House earlier this month and are currently awaiting ratification from El Sisi.

Remember: Egypt has set a target of providing 5-8% of the world’s hydrogen by 2040, creatingsome 100k jobs and adding USD 10-18 bn to its GDP in the process.

What’s next? The report will go to the National Dialogue within the coming two months fordiscussion.

Your top green economy stories for the week:

  • MPs greenlight green hydrogen incentives: The House gave final approval to a cabinet-drafted decision putting forward a package of incentives for Egypt’s green hydrogen industry.
  • Tarboul is getting an EV factory: Russian EV manufacturer Concordia is setting up an electric vehicle components factory in GV Investments’s Tarboul industrial project in Giza.
  • A 10-GW solar project could be in the works: China Electric Power Equipment and Technology has signed an MoU with the Madbouly government to begin studies to develop a 10-GW solar project in Upper Egypt.
  • We’re doing just about okay on the climate protection front: Egypt ranked 22nd on the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) in 2024, recording 61.8 points and an overall “medium” rating, surpassed in the MENA region only by Morocco.
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