Egypt Launches Open Dialogue on Industrial Capacity Building to Address Climate Change and CBAM Mechanism

Today, the Open Dialogue on Climate Change in Egypt 2026 kicked off at the Safir Hotel in Cairo, organized as a mini-summit conference with the participation of 60 experts and specialists from various governmental, industrial, academic, and research entities, as part of the national efforts to address climate change impacts and build the capacities of the Egyptian industrial sector, in strategic cooperation between Catalyst Industrial Technologies Company and Al-Wahda for Marketing.

Qualifying Egyptian Industry to Face Carbon Challenges

Participants in the summit on carbon footprint, through the open dialogue that extended over 7 hours, confirmed that the Egyptian industrial sector faces significant challenges with the full implementation of the European Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) during the current year 2026. Estimates indicate that Egyptian exporting companies to the European Union will bear annual burdens reaching approximately *$317 million*, representing additional carbon fees, including $236 million for the iron and steel sector, $45 million for fertilizers, $22 million for cement, and $14 million for aluminum.

Three Specialized Lectures and an Applied Workshop

The day witnessed the organization of three main lectures led by Dr. Nada Nassef, delivered by a distinguished group of experts and specialists.

The first lecture, presented by Dr. Fawzy Younes, Consultant on Carbon Footprint and Environmental Sustainability, covered the general framework of climate action and greenhouse gas management, methodologies for measuring emissions according to the GHG Protocol and the three scopes (Scope 1, 2, 3), in addition to emissions auditing according to ISO 14064 standards. The lecture also addressed Egypt’s National Climate Change Strategy 2050 and Egypt’s international commitments.

The lecture also covered the CBAM mechanism in detail, including its implementation timeline, covered sectors, methodology for calculating carbon fees, exemption conditions, and the required preparations for the Egyptian industrial sector in the short, medium, and long term to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

The second lecture, presented by Dr. Omar Alawa from the Tebbin Institute, addressed carbon footprint reports for products and organizations, methodologies for calculating the footprint according to ISO 14067 and GHG Protocol standards, with applied case studies for calculating the carbon footprint of cement, fertilizer, and aluminum products in Egypt. The results revealed that the carbon footprint of Egyptian products is higher by 15% to 35% compared to their European Union counterparts, due to reliance on fossil fuels and weak energy efficiency in many factories.

The third lecture, presented by Dr. Ihab El-Saeedi, Professor of Agricultural Engineering at Menoufia University and an environmental impact expert accredited by the Ministry of Environment, addressed environmental impact assessment and risk management, the legal framework for environmental impact assessment in Egypt according to Environmental Law No. 4 of 1994, assessment methodologies and tools, in addition to integrating climate change considerations into environmental impact studies, managing environmental and climate risks facing the industrial sector, and the concept of Double Materiality in sustainability reports.

Workshop for Calculating Individual Carbon Footprint

The meeting concluded with an interactive applied workshop, presented by Dr. Fawzy Younes, Consultant on Carbon Footprint and Environmental Sustainability and Director of the Open Dialogue on Climate Change in Egypt post-COP27, with the participation of 20 trainees. Participants used the electronic carbon footprint calculator tool via the following link:
https://calculator.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx?c=Full&h=ab4f436dc18284b4738eca95682808ad

The workshop aimed to enable participants to calculate their individual carbon footprint, identify main emission sources, and develop practical and implementable mitigation plans.

The results showed that the average individual carbon footprint of participants reached 6.3 tons of CO₂ equivalent per year, which is higher than the national average of 4.5 tons. The food sector (especially red meat) constituted the largest share of emissions at 34%, followed by the household energy sector at 28%, then transportation at 25%, while consumption and waste accounted for 10%, and water for 3%.

Participants committed to implementing individual reduction plans of no less than 20% within 12 months, and 35 participants signed a voluntary charter for personal carbon footprint. They also called for generalizing the electronic calculator experience to all workers in the industrial sector as a mandatory training tool.

Recommendations of the Meeting

At the conclusion of the meeting, participants issued a set of recommendations, the most prominent of which are:

1. Accelerating the transition towards green manufacturing by raising energy efficiency by no less than 15% by 2028, reaching 42% renewable energy in the energy mix by 2035, applying carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies in emission-intensive industries, and gradually transitioning towards green hydrogen.

2. Building the capacities of industrial companies in emissions measurement and carbon disclosure according to international standards, by establishing specialized sustainability units, training internal teams, contracting with accredited auditing bodies, and developing digital systems for collecting and analyzing emissions data.

3. Developing a national emissions trading system as a mechanism to incentivize emissions reduction, equivalent to international trading systems such as the EU ETS, which would contribute to exempting Egyptian exports from carbon fees under CBAM.

4. Enhancing open dialogue among all concerned parties, holding periodic dialogues, actively participating in international forums, and establishing a national digital platform for open dialogue on climate change.

5. Preparing economic and environmental feasibility studies to evaluate the costs and benefits of transitioning towards a low-carbon economy in the sectors most affected by CBAM.
6. Developing a package of financial and tax incentives for companies that invest in emissions reduction, including tax exemptions, profit tax reductions, providing soft financing, and granting priority in government procurement to low-carbon products.

Egypt Moves Forward Towards Carbon Neutrality 2050

This open dialogue comes as part of the series of Open Dialogues on Climate Change in Egypt 2026, continuing the Egyptian state’s efforts that began with the signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1994, through the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 2005, the Paris Agreement in 2016, up to the launch of the National Climate Change Strategy 2050 in May 2022, and Egypt’s hosting of the COP27 conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, which represented a turning point in climate action at the national, regional, and global levels.

The organizers of the dialogue emphasized that climate action is not a burden on the economy, but rather a real opportunity to restructure the Egyptian economy, develop national industry, create new job opportunities, enhance the global competitiveness of Egyptian exports, and achieve sustainable development goals in line with Egypt’s Vision 2030 and the Global Sustainable Development Strategy 2030-2100, leading to carbon neutrality by 2050.