Banque du Caire, Egypt's third biggest state-owned bank, has hosted on Thursday the Youth and Climate Change panel discussion as part of the COP27 activities taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh. The panel aimed at looking into the necessary mechanisms for applying the best practices in the financial sector to combat climate change were discussed. It is part of the bank's continuous support for youth and the fight against climate change. It witnessed the participation of some of Egypt's most influential thought leaders, including Egyptian Minister of Sports and Youth Ashraf Sobhy; along with Sherif Luqman, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank for Financial Inclusion; and Tarek Fayed, chairman and CEO of Banque du Caire. This is in addition to the participation of Clemence Vidal de La Blache, Country Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) in Egypt; Nicola Mustetea, Director of Climate Change at the British International Investment; Ahmed Sabbah, CEO and co-founder of Telda, and Seif Salama, operations director at Tulima. Minister Sobhy stressed the sports and youth ministry's strategy that aims to build the capacities of Egyptian youth and support them socially and economically in addition to spreading the culture of entrepreneurship and running small and medium-sized projects. In order to secure appropriate and sustainable income and to manage investments and savings for young people through national banks, the ministry aims to raise the standard of living, ensure a decent life, increase the rates of financial inclusion in line with the Egyptian National Strategy 2030. Sobhy further pointed out to the adoption of several programmes for education and financial inclusion, for example, supporting owners of small and medium enterprises within the NilePreneurs Initiative under the auspices of the Central Bank of Egypt. This initiative aims to support young entrepreneurs. He also encourages financial institutions to fund emerging companies in various economic sectors that seek to fight climate change. Opportunities to fund the youth have increased significantly in recent times. Sherif Lokman said, "Sustainability and climate resilience are the future, and younger generations are the main actors in the implementation of our transition plans towards a greener economy. Therefore, preparation and awareness are essential in encouraging youth participation, especially since more than 65% of Egyptians are under the age of 35. "That is why the CBE has encouraged access to finance to enable young entrepreneurs in supporting their businesses. Therefore, youth are a key asset that should be mobilized towards achieving growth." Lokman added that the sustainable future in Egypt comes through attention to the youth, pointing out that the CBE has taken many measures to take care of them, such as allowing youth from the ages of 16 to open an account with their national ID card only. This is in addition to enabling banks to be present in youth sites such as youth centres, clubs, universities, and others. The CBE has also worked on easing the lending process by waiving several documentation requirements and allowing the use of behavior scoring models. This has encouraged access to finance to enable young entrepreneurs in supporting their businesses. Tarek Fayed, chairman and CEO of Banque du Caire said: "When we talk about youth and climate change, the main essence is to accelerate the pace of climate action that affects future generations. Especially the youth, as agents of change and innovation. "With regard to the banking sector, we must participate because the main role of financial institutions and banks is financial intermediation in this very important topic. So in fact, we have to bridge the gap between supply and demand, and that is very important. And in this context, we're keen to take advantage of sustainable finance and raise awareness of the use of sustainable financing." Fayed added that the role of financial institutions is not limited to financing, but goes beyond that to support and empower society, especially youth. This is especially in regards to fighting climate change, stressing that Egypt is a land of opportunity and that there are great financing opportunities that the banking sector can meet because "we have a great understanding of the market, and innovation is an essential element towards sustainability." According to Clemence Vidal De La Blache: "AFD, France's bilateral development bank, is committed to delivering on the Paris Agreement. We have mobilised €33 billion in climate finance since 2015, reaching €6 billion of climate finance last year, 33% of which in favour of adaptation projects. "In Egypt, 90% of our projects have a positive impact on climate." She added: "As highlighted by President Macron during the Montpellier Africa-France Summit, we have an emerging priority on youth, who are at the heart of today's key transitions and are actors of social change. We support youth employment and livelihood, addressing challenges including access to finance, skilling, and empowerment. "AFD is proud of the strategic partnership launched during COP27 with Banque du Caire and the other main public banks, which brings this vision to life, providing concessional finance, investment grant and support to SME projects contributing to SDGs and climate goals." Nicola Mustetea said: "When I think of Youth and developing countries, two things come to mind regarding climate justice; the first one is, that from a geographical perspective obviously climate change will hit those hardest the ones who didn't cause it. "Secondly, you can take this from an intergenerational perspective, those who did not cause the effects of climate change in the past decades will have to deal with most of the consequences." "Youth can be active agents of change and really take proactive action" "In the African continent, you can see that youth are really concerned about climate change" Meanwhile, Ahmed Sabbah expressed his pride for participating in this important session within the activities of COP27. "It was an absolute pleasure being part of such a diverse panel at COP27. Thanks to Banque du Caire for bringing the government, regulator, financial institutions and youth on the same table to discuss the role of each party in encouraging and supporting youth and youth-driven organisations to fight climate change." Sabbah said. Seif Salama said: "Being invited to the Youth panel by BdC is an incredible honour, and a great opportunity to have an open discussion with policy makers, decision takers and developmental organizations working towards the betterment of our country and our world. "Tulima believes that true change must come from both the top down and the bottom up, and only together can we avoid the environmental crisis looming upon us." The objectives of the event were to bring together stakeholders in the financial sector and partners in a platform to discuss how to encourage, support and promote youth-led organizations or youth organizations to be agents of change by recognizing the key role that youth play in addressing climate change and working closely with youth-led organisations.
