Egypt's Minister of Planning, Rania Al-Mashat, has called for "just financing" to enable developing countries to meet their climate commitments, stressing that preserving the path of climate action requires a genuine commitment from the international community. Speaking on the occasion of Finance Day at the COP30 climate conference in Brazil, Al-Mashat said there is an urgent need to scale up innovative financing and debt swap mechanisms to reduce the burden on developing countries, especially in light of rising debt service costs. "National platforms have become a key tool for coordinating efforts among partners to mobilize climate finance," she said in a statement, adding that restructuring the global financial system has become essential to make it more responsive to development and climate action challenges. Al-Mashat highlighted Egypt's "NWFE" country platform as a leading model for aligning state priorities with the support of international partners to mobilise concessional financing and stimulate private sector participation. Nearly two and a half years after Egypt hosted the COP27 climate conference, the NWFE platform has succeeded in mobilising $4.5bn in concessional finance for the private sector to fund renewable energy projects with a capacity of 5.2 gigawatts (GW), she said. Power purchase agreements have been signed for 8.8 GW out of the 10 GW that the programme aims to achieve by 2028. The minister also noted that Egypt's 2025/2026 economic and social development plan targets increasing investments in green projects to approximately EGP 637 billion, equivalent to 55% of total public investments. These investments will be distributed between mitigation activities (64%) and adaptation activities (36%). "The gradual increase in green investments reflects Egypt's commitment to transforming climate challenges into opportunities for growth and achieving a balance between environmental transformation and economic development objectives," Al-Mashat said. She also pointed to the National Initiative for Smart and Green Projects as a leading platform for supporting innovation and enhancing the participation of youth, the private sector, and civil society in climate efforts.
