This region of 20 economies contains nearly 600 million people — a figure forecasted to double by 2050. Several of the world’s most gas- and oil-rich countries can be found in the region.
Children and young people between the ages of zero and 24 account for 50 percent of its population — a situation that UNICEF describes as having huge potential. As they transition into their most productive years, these young people could become agents of change, creating a more prosperous and stable future.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Growth describes MENA’s potential in similar terms. The region has access to large markets, a young and educated population, and comparative advantages in several sectors, including renewable energies.
North African countries are home to a wide variety of important ecosystems supporting a diversity of jobs, livelihoods, and access to natural resources. The wider region, despite its generally arid climate, is ecologically unique. It is home to over 35 reserves protected under the UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme, with more than 20 in the Middle East.
Investing in Middle East and North Africa
The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) interventions are helping the region to achieve energy security, mitigate climate change, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create green jobs, and emerge as a key player in renewable energies.
Egypt: Concessional financing from CIF’s Clean Technology Fund (CTF) is helping to advance the country’s wind energy ambitions, by piloting a 200-megawatts (MW) wind farm on the Gulf of Suez as a public-private partnership to serve as a model for future green investments. The same fund is also enabling a shift to low-carbon mass transport in Cairo.
Morocco: In a country where imported fossil fuels satisfy 97 percent of its energy needs, CTF is enabling the development of its vast wind and solar resources. Concessional financing is contributing to 1,070 MW in new wind power capacity and helping to establish the infrastructure needed to make it commercially viable. Meanwhile, the piloting of the county’s first solar photovoltaic plants are expected to pave the way for nationwide development.
Tunisia: Tunisia is benefiting from CTF investments to advance its concentrated solar power ambitions, alongside support under CIF’s Forest Investment Program for increasing carbon sequestration in its forest and agro-sylvo-pastoral landscapes.
The Climate Situation
Described as highly vulnerable by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, MENA is expected to worsen under increasing threats from climate change impacts, such as droughts, extreme temperatures, dry soil, as well as reduced access to already scarce water and agricultural resources.
Many countries in the region are designated as “water stressed” by the World Bank. This has significant implications for food security, stability, and peace. If greenhouse gases are not reduced, much of the region is projected to become uninhabitable by 2100.
Meanwhile, MENA produces almost nine percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with much of it coming from the energy sector.
The Benefits of Partnering with the Climate Investment Funds
CIF is a global leader in the delivery of climate finance for piloting and scaling cutting-edge climate solutions and innovations in low- and middle-income countries.
CIF’s investments have been helping countries adapt to climate change and mitigate its impacts since 2008. Through a programmatic approach, CIF supports an inclusive and just climate-smart future, focusing on diverse partnerships that de-risk green markets and unlock additional investments and financing.
To date, 15 contributor countries have pledged over $10 billion to CIF. This is expected to mobilize an additional $62 billion in co-financing for 73 recipient countries.
CIF’s funding enables and scales up transformational climate action. This includes funding for policy and regulatory reforms and local capacity building to create an enabling environment for lasting change in partner countries. The funding specifically supports low- and middle-income countries to transition to clean energy, adapt and build resilience to climate change, protect and manage nature, grow cities sustainably, and decarbonize their industries.
Implementing Partners
