Chapter Zero Egypt held its fourth awareness session titled "Reporting Guidelines for Businesses" as part of its comprehensive awareness mission to educate business leaders on the opportunities and challenges of climate change and climate governance. The seminar was hosted at Elsewedy Electric premises, where participants were welcomed by Manal Hassan, the Chief Sustainability Director of the company and the Advisor to the Board of Chapter Zero Egypt. The session was delivered by Abdel Hamid Beshara, the Technical Advisor to the Board of Directors of Chapter Zero Egypt and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of MASADER – Environmental & Energy Services, as well as Menna Gomaa, the ESG Engagement & Corporate Reporting Director at MASADER – Environmental & Energy Services. The session defined ESG reporting while covering the risks and opportunities of ESG disclosures and the evolution of the Global Reporting Guidelines. It also covered the ESG reporting landscape in Egypt, what materiality entails, and how to determine material topics such as environmental and climate change, labor practices, governance, product responsibility, economic, society, human rights, and supply chain practices that came as top material issues for 2022. Gomaa highlighted that GRI standards are the most widely used and trusted frameworks for reporting on sustainability, with around 95% of companies reporting on sustainability relying on GRI. This is because it offers organizations a global common language for communicating their impacts on people and the planet in a comprehensive and consistent way. For his part, Beshara covered the Egyptian landscape, its evolution, and requirements. This entails the Financial Regulatory Authority, the Egyptian Stock Exchange, as well as the Central Bank of Egypt's requirements, while focusing on the benefits and challenges of ESG. Chapter Zero Egypt is the first in Africa & the Middle East and the 27th of the Climate Governance Initiative's global network to promote the adoption of the Principles for Effective Climate Governance published by the WEF in 2019. Its launch is supported by the EBRD to equip Board members with skills and knowledge to make addressing climate change a boardroom priority and provides a platform for dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration among business leaders to drive sustainable growth in the face of evolving environmental challenges.
