What the gov’t has in store for the green economy in the next fiscal year: Last week, the Planning Ministry released its economic and social development plan for the fiscal year 2024-2025 (pdf) and the Finance Ministry released next fiscal year’s draft state budget (pdf), giving us the first proper look at its targets for the green economy in FY 2024-25.

The big picture: The economic development plan put forward by the Planning Ministry targets three overarching objectives for fueling the green transition — diversifying energy sources, ramping up investments in environmentally-friendly industries, and accelerating the implementation of green hydrogen projects in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. While the Finance Ministry laid out its plan to introduce new green incentives, fast-track green financing, and expand the use of clean-tech in its draft budget.

A more renewables-heavy energy mix: The government now aims to generate 20% of its electricity from renewable sources in the coming fiscal year, up from the 12% it’s targeting for the current fiscal year, according to the economic development plan.

Remember: Egypt aims to have renewables make up 42% of its energy mix by 2030, a target that was laid out in the government’s official Nationally Determined Contributions report in 2023.

More green investments: Both the economic plan and the draft budget highlight the state’s objective to raise the portion of green investments to 50% of total public investments in the coming fiscal year from 40% this fiscal year. The government also wants to ramp up green exports to 16% of total national exports in the next fiscal year from 13% this year.

More green financing: The Finance Ministry stated that it would study the issuance of sustainable development bonds and green bonds as part of wider efforts to continue offering diverse financial instruments in different denominations and markets.

Environmental protection also gets a slice of the pie: The Finance Ministry has earmarked some EGP 4.8 bn for environmental protection in the next fiscal year, which accounts for 0.12% of the total EGP 3.9 tn it plans to spend during the year, according to the analysis report (pdf) accompanying the draft budget. Environmental protection covers waste management and recycling, sanitation, pollution prevention, and environmental protection research, the report reads.

Environmental protection is getting more attention in FY 2024-25: The next fiscal year’s planned expenditures for environmental protection are up 20% from the near EGP 4 bn that was allocated for the segment in the current fiscal year, but still 28% lower than the EGP 6.7 bn that was spent back in FY 2022-2023.

Going green across different sectors: The government’s strategy for developing the transport sector in the next fiscal year includes advancing the transition to electric vehicles to slash emissions. Similarly, the strategy for developing the manufacturing sector includes focusing on green industries such as EVs, green hydrogen, wastewater treatment and desalination plants, and solar panels.

Your top green economy stories for the week:

  • Globeleq snaps 48% stake in solar PV plant: African energy provider Globeleq has acquired a 48.3% stake in Egypt’s Winnergy solar PV plant in the Benban complex in Aswan.
  • Boosting Egyptian, Italian renewables cooperation: Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker discussed ways to boost Egyptian-Italian cooperation in the fields of renewable energy with the Italian officials last week. (Statement)
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