Chairperson of the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) Rami El-Dokany affirmed last week the EGX's keenness to continue striving towards increasing the efficiency and depth of the national capital market by diversifying investment options, especially those with a societal and environmental impact. This came during his participation in the activities of the second edition of the f Egypt-ICF 2022 and the Meeting of African Ministers of Finance, Economy and Environment for COP27, which was held in Cairo from 7 to 9 September and discussed the preparations of African governments for the upcoming UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change that will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh this November. El-Dokany said that the EGX was the first in the region and the second at the international level to launch a sustainability index — the S&P/EGX ESG index — according to the Standard & Poor's methodology, taking its first steps in implementing the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs) and practices and making the SDGs feasible for measurement and investment by training listed companies on formulating and issuing sustainability reports. He also stressed the continuation of the EGX's management to train and continuously improve the capabilities of investor relations officials in listed companies — especially in matters related to sustainability — to develop tools and mechanisms for communicating with investors that affect sustainability indicators and efforts in their investment decisions. He added that the voluntary platform for trading carbon certificates, which the EGX is currently developing, will make Egypt a strategic centre for all African projects from various economic sectors with the aim of achieving economic returns from plans and efforts to reduce carbon emissions and adhere to sustainable development practices and goals. On the other hand, he stressed the need to pay attention to improving the quality of data announced regarding projects that aim to reduce carbon emissions, pointing out that the limited data available on this type of projects in Africa affects the capabilities of these projects in obtaining appropriate financing.
