Cairo, October 11, 2023- Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt’s leading private-sector bank, makes the business case for Transition Finance and Biodiversity Finance at MENA Climate Week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The regional event was held to provide a platform for policymakers, practitioners, businesses and civil society to exchange on climate challenges and solutions affecting the MENA region, ahead of COP28.
CIB hosted a panel titled “Transition Finance and the Role of Banks Towards Just Transition in MENA” during MENA Climate Week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Bank’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Dr. Dalia Abdel Kader, shared, “The journey to mainstreaming transition finance requires multi-stakeholder input and collaboration from financial institutions, regulators, private sector, academia, science and technology sectors, and change makers. CIB is working through an ecosystem-based model. We know the transformation is complex and not for a single bank to undertake, and there is a need to create and mobilize the whole ecosystem and energize all stakeholders.”
Dr. Abdel Kader also participated in the panel titled “Advancing Biodiversity Finance for Enhanced Climate Resilience” by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). She shared, “CIB recognizes that biodiversity and nature constitute valuable capital and provide the foundation for our economic growth. It is estimated that half of the global GDP, around 44 trillion dollars, depends on nature and biodiversity. That is why risk management and disclosure systems are evolving from focusing on climate change to biodiversity. Financial institutions must be prepared to factor biodiversity into their policies, strategies, and disclosures. In Egypt, the Nile biodiversity is a case in point that warrants the interest of financial institutions."
It is worth mentioning that, CIB is a founding signatory of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and the first to issue USD 100 million corporate green bonds in Egypt, in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), based on its continuous support for sustainable finance initiatives and its belief in the important role that institutions play in creating sustainable and effective solutions to reduce the risks of climate change and mainstream transition finance in the region.
