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Daily News Egypt
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily News Egypt
Egypt, Mexico discuss environmental cooperation, combating desertification
Egypt's Minister of Environment, Yasmine Fouad, met with Mexican Ambassador to Cairo, Leonora Rueda Gutierrez, to explore opportunities for bilateral and multilateral cooperation on key environmental issues, including desertification, climate change, and waste management, the ministry announced in a statement on Sunday. The meeting, attended by Ambassador Raouf Saad, Advisor for Multilateral Agreements, and a representative from the Foreign Ministry, began with Ambassador Rueda congratulating Fouad on her recent appointment as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Rueda expressed Mexico's confidence in Fouad's leadership, noting her extensive environmental expertise and the shared conditions between Egypt, Mexico, and other developing countries. Fouad highlighted the longstanding environmental collaboration between the two nations, particularly since Egypt assumed the presidency of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) from Mexico in 2018. She pointed to ongoing joint efforts in advancing the green transition and promoting circular economy initiatives. The minister also noted the global initiative launched by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during COP14 to integrate the Rio Conventions on climate change, biodiversity, and desertification. She stressed that these interconnected challenges have a direct impact on food security, especially in Africa. Amid increasing global instability, food insecurity, and intensifying climate impacts, Fouad described desertification as one of the most pressing environmental threats. She underscored that 2026 will be a pivotal year, as all three Rio Conventions will convene their conferences, creating a unique opportunity to mobilise political will, international solidarity, and financial resources. Fouad outlined Egypt's achievements in applying nature-based solutions to address climate change impacts along its coastlines. These solutions, she explained, offer cost-effective and integrated approaches that simultaneously support climate adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable land use — a model particularly suited to countries with limited resources. At the bilateral level, Fouad discussed Egypt's integrated waste management system, established through the first national waste management law in 2020. The system embraces circular economy principles and shifts operational responsibility from the state to the private sector. Since its introduction, Egypt has invested in supporting infrastructure and launched successful partnerships with private sector stakeholders, she added. For her part, Ambassador Rueda expressed Mexico's interest in benefiting from Egypt's experience in transforming environmental challenges into economic opportunities. She highlighted shared concerns, including the impacts of desertification and flash floods on agriculture. Mexico, she noted, is currently working to modernise traditional farming practices and develop educational programmes focused on biodiversity and sustainability — areas where closer cooperation with Egypt could bring significant value.
Euractiv
07-07-2025
- Business
- Euractiv
Green groups uneasy as EU bets on market to drive nature restoration
The European Commission believes a market for nature credits will unlock private financing to fund ecosystem restoration and biodiversity protection, but critics are sounding the alarm over what they fear may become another greenwashing tool. Months after Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen floated the idea of a cash-for-nature scheme, the EU executive has developed the idea further with the publication of a nature credits roadmap. 'This not about turning nature into a commodity, but about recognising and rewarding actions that restore and sustain nature," environment commissioner Jessika Roswall told reporters on Monday. "Nature credits are emerging as a promising tool to change how we value nature,' she said. The Commission envisages a scheme to reward farmers and landowners for environmental actions and sustainable management that goes beyond legal obligations, thus reconciling the economics of farming and forestry with nature preservation. According to the roadmap, a nature credit is 'a unit that represents a nature-positive outcome, derived from a certified and independently verified action'. The fungible units would be generated in two steps. A given action, such as the restoration of drained wetland, must first pass a 'high-quality' standards test and be certified. The project must then be monitored, with the issuance of nature credits linked to demonstrable results. '[W]e face a €37 billion annual gap in biodiversity financing across the EU. To close it, we must unlock private finance to complement public support,' Roswall said. At a time when there is growing awareness that biodiversity loss leads to financial and economic risks – with 75% of European businesses dependent in some way on ecosystem services – the new market-based tool is presented as complementary to public funding. With the finance gap estimated globally at $200 billion a year until the end of the decade, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity calls for increased and diversified flows of money into nature restoration. Greenwashing risks To lay the groundwork for a future EU nature credits market, the Commission plans to launch an expert group tasked with developing initial criteria and methodologies over the coming year. In parallel, an EU-wide pilot project is slated to run from 2025 to 2027, after the Commission tested the concept in two national pilot projects in Estonia and France. 'To avoid greenwashing is key,' Roswall said, adding that it was 'crucial that we can trust nature'. But warnings have already emerged about a lack of demand for nature credits, even before the scheme gets off the ground. The Commission's efforts to avoid accusations of greenwashing – which have previously dogged the market for carbon credits used to outsource climate action – have not staved off criticism that it is promoting a false, possible even destructive, solution. 'It is absurd that discussions around nature finance are relying on a pilot that increases environmental destruction,' said Siim Kuresoo, a campaigner with the forest protection group Fern. Specifically, the NGO claims that one of the nature credits pilot projects, in Estonia, has led to 27 hectares of forest being clear-cut, some of it in ecologically sensitive areas. Roswall declined to answer when asked by Euractiv whether she was aware of or acknowledged this criticism. 'Nature credits are a cover for inaction, a greenwashing shortcut that allows corporations to keep destroying nature as long as they pay for it," said Clara Bourgin, a nature campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe. "This is not the time for market schemes that benefit only a few while putting nature at risk," Bourgin said. (rh, aw)
Associated Press
26-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
CITY WEEK 2025 – Where the International Financial Services Community Meets
LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM, June 26, 2025 / / -- More than 1,000 top-level senior decision-makers from UK and overseas financial institutions will be descending on London to attend City Week 2025 – the 15th International Financial Services Forum, which will take place on 30 June – 2 July 2025 at the Royal Garden Hotel in London. Organised under a partnership between the UK Government's Department for Business and Trade, the City of London Corporation, TheCityUK, UK Finance and City & Financial Global, the forum is widely regarded as the premier gathering of the international financial services community. The programme reflects the boardroom agendas of leading financial institutions from across the world and comprises three separately bookable summits: 30 June – Day One The Net Zero Finance Innovation Summit It explores how to reconcile the competing requirements of a pro-growth agenda, energy security and net zero against the backdrop of a rapidly warming planet. The case for the energy transition and decarbonisation is overwhelming for purely economic reasons. Against this background, this day brings together government ministers, regulators and leaders of financial institutions from across the world to discuss the huge opportunity that financing energy transition and decarbonisation presents, as well as the latest innovations in financing net zero. Speakers include: Emma Reynolds MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister, HM Treasury; Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP, Secretary of State for Business and Trade; Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity; Tim Adams, President and CEO, The Institute of International Finance; and Juergen Maier, Chair, Great British Energy Sir Douglas Flint CBE, Chair, abrdn. 1 July – Day Two The AI and Digital Innovation Summit This summit explores the real-world applications of Gen AI for financial institutions and the huge potential for the industry of the next phase of AI, Agentic AI. It will also provide a detailed analysis of all the related issues, including regulation, data governance, AI infrastructure, the impact on financial markets and specific financial products, international developments and risk management. Top AI experts will share their insights, global regulators will discuss emerging AI regulation and financial services leaders will discuss current and future AI applications. Speakers include: Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology; Darren Hardman, CEO, Microsoft UK; Leon Butler, General Manager, UK and Ireland, IBM; Zahra Bahrololoumi CBE, CEO, Salesforce UK and Ireland; and Vishal Marria, CEO and Founder, Quantexa 2 July – Day Three The Digital Assets Innovation Summit Digital assets, tokenisation and cryptocurrencies are developing quickly. The U.S. is very supportive of crypto, while the UK and other jurisdictions are establishing their own regimes. The tokenisation of financial assets through distributed ledgers and blockchain will shift the way that assets are managed and leveraged, while digital assets will transform the way that capital and financial markets work. This international summit brings together innovators and traditional financial firms to map out the future of financial markets and the challenges ahead. Speakers include: The Honorable Caroline D. Pham, Acting Chairman, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Hester Peirce, Commissioner, US Securities and Exchange Commission; Sarah Pritchard, Executive Director, Financial Conduct Authority; Sasha Mills, Executive Director, Financial Market Infrastructure, Bank of England; Ryan Hayward, Head of Digital Assets and Strategic Investments, Barclays; and Dr Robert Oleschak, Advisor and Member of the Management Board, Swiss National Bank Packed with high-level keynote addresses and thought-provoking panel discussions, the speakers at the three summits include a list of over 100 well-known names from the global financial services industry, the world of politics and the international regulatory community. A full list of speakers and the event programme can be found at Maurice Button, Chief Executive of City Week, said: 'At a time of significant change in geopolitics, international trading patterns and potentially the global financial architecture, City Week offers delegates a unique opportunity to hear the insights of 100+ eminent speakers drawn from the international financial services industry on financing net zero, the AI revolution and the emergence of digital assets and crypto into the mainstream of financial services.' Please confirm your attendance by email (indicating which Summit you wish to attend). If you would like to interview any of the speakers ahead of or during the event, please let us know and we will be delighted to assist you. Notes for Editors City Week is the leading forum for the international financial services community. Taking place in person and with virtual access, City Week 2025 will build on the success of previous editions of the event, all of which have attracted over 1,000 delegates from more than 60 countries around the world. It will consist of three summits, social events and networking opportunities, with a strong focus on the latest developments in financing net zero, the impact of AI on the financial services industry, and tokenisation and institutional adoption of digital assets. Attendance is by invitation only and the majority of the delegates are CEOs and main board directors of the world's largest banks, investment managers and insurance companies. The balance is made up of senior representatives from international regulators, national treasury departments and multinational corporations that use international financial services. Paul Hooper City & Financial Global email us here Visit us on social media: LinkedIn YouTube X Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
The Age
10-06-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Environmentalists say our green goals don't protect nature or work for business. Here's how Labor plans to fix the problem
A long list of unfulfilled environmental promises presents a challenge to the Albanese government in its second term, after it recently approved a major gas project and halted reform progress in the past three years as it tries to balance protecting nature with creating jobs. In his first decision as environment minister, Murray Watt gave provisional approval to Woodside to extend its North West Shelf gas project until 2070, overruling warnings from climate activists and traditional owners that it could damage rock art and produce vast greenhouse gas emissions. Watt's initial act in the Albanese government's second term, following its May re-election, followed a rocky environmental record for Labor in its first term. It failed to deliver on an election pledge to create a federal environment watchdog by 2025 and made limited progress on its open-ended promises to reform federal environment laws and enhance Indigenous heritage protections. The government's former environment minister Tanya Plibersek made three other ambitious pledges in 2022. She promised there would be 'no new extinctions' of Australia's native wildlife and to reform Indigenous cultural heritage laws following Rio Tinto's legal 2020 destruction of the globally significant Juukan Gorge, which contained 46,000 years of cultural heritage, to expand one of its mines. Loading Plibersek also pledged to conserve 30 per cent of Australian land and 30 per cent of its seas by 2030 – known as the '30 by 30″ commitment – barring all extractive industry such as fishing or mining in line with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Australian Conservation Foundation policy officer Brendan Sydes said the government needed to deliver on it promises to protect thousands of native plants and animals at heightened risk of extinction. 'There's an urgent need to fix our national environmental laws. They're not working, they don't protect nature, and they don't work for business either,' Sydes said. 'We're now up to well over 2000 species listed as threatened under Commonwealth environmental laws and the numbers are only going up. They are being listed because they're at imminent risk of extinction.
Sydney Morning Herald
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Environmentalists say our green goals don't protect nature or work for business. Here's how Labor plans to fix the problem
A long list of unfulfilled environmental promises presents a challenge to the Albanese government in its second term, after it recently approved a major gas project and halted reform progress in the past three years as it tries to balance protecting nature with creating jobs. In his first decision as environment minister, Murray Watt gave provisional approval to Woodside to extend its North West Shelf gas project until 2070, overruling warnings from climate activists and traditional owners that it could damage rock art and produce vast greenhouse gas emissions. Watt's initial act in the Albanese government's second term, following its May re-election, followed a rocky environmental record for Labor in its first term. It failed to deliver on an election pledge to create a federal environment watchdog by 2025 and made limited progress on its open-ended promises to reform federal environment laws and enhance Indigenous heritage protections. The government's former environment minister Tanya Plibersek made three other ambitious pledges in 2022. She promised there would be 'no new extinctions' of Australia's native wildlife and to reform Indigenous cultural heritage laws following Rio Tinto's legal 2020 destruction of the globally significant Juukan Gorge, which contained 46,000 years of cultural heritage, to expand one of its mines. Loading Plibersek also pledged to conserve 30 per cent of Australian land and 30 per cent of its seas by 2030 – known as the '30 by 30″ commitment – barring all extractive industry such as fishing or mining in line with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Australian Conservation Foundation policy officer Brendan Sydes said the government needed to deliver on it promises to protect thousands of native plants and animals at heightened risk of extinction. 'There's an urgent need to fix our national environmental laws. They're not working, they don't protect nature, and they don't work for business either,' Sydes said. 'We're now up to well over 2000 species listed as threatened under Commonwealth environmental laws and the numbers are only going up. They are being listed because they're at imminent risk of extinction.
