Microsoft Egypt has announced two key sustainability management partnerships with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) at COP27.
The agreement will establish a Government Center of Excellence for Emissions Accounting and Reporting digitally (GEAR COE) that will let Egyptian authorities digitally record, measure, and report on carbon emissions and which will contribute to achieving institutional and national sustainability.
“This cooperation is consistent in time and space with the State’s efforts to adopt eco-friendly policies.” said Dr. Amr Talat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology of the partnership. “It coincides with Egypt’s assumption of the presidency of the twenty-seventh session of the Climate Change Conference, and in light of the declaration of Sharm el-Sheikh as Egypt’s first green city”.
The objective of the GEAR COE is to facilitate developments in technology-based sustainability solutions and will include specialised training programs for software developers and engineers in the fields of sustainable cloud computing and related topics. Training packages for decision makers, business owners and government leaders will also be available.
As part of the partnership, Microsoft Egypt will identify start-ups developing sustainability solutions to be enrolled in the Microsoft Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact program. The program allows start-ups access to some of Microsoft’s technologies, Azure support, and opportunities to connect with other social entrepreneurs around the world.
Egypt is the second-highest greenhouse gas emitter in Africa and relies heavily on natural gas. The country is yet to set a net zero target, despite agreeing to the Paris Agreement, but has put forward goals towards reducing their reliance on fossil fuels by transitioning to renewables.
During discussions at COP27, the host nation agreed to bring forward its renewables target, update its climate plan, “explore” a net zero goal and shut down a tenth of its gas power capacity.
To support this, the US and Germany promised to “mobilise” €100m in debt forgiveness, €100m in loans which they said were on good terms and €85m in grants, which don’t have to be paid back.
