ADCB cooperates with UNIDO and joins Inclusive Green Growth in Egypt

ADCB - Egypt announced its cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and its inclusive green growth programme in Egypt, which aims to support small and medium-sized enterprises, especially in economic sectors that aim to move towards a green economy such as renewable energy projects, resource efficiency, sustainable agriculture, food production and waste management.

The statement added that cooperation had been announced at the Bank's headquarters, where a representative of the Bank had attended Hisham Abbas, Head of Corporate Finance and Financial Institutions and Executive Member of the Board of Directors, and Patrick Jean Gilabert, representative of the UNIDO Regional Office in Egypt, as well as a number of senior managers from both sides.

This cooperation is part of the Bank's sustainability strategy. Under this cooperation, UNIDO will provide technical support to the Bank's customers and enhance the efficiency of those working in sustainable finance, as well as provide technical assistance for the production of sustainable financing and non-financing products and services aimed at promoting climate finance to achieve ADCB - Egypt’s Strategy and Objectives.

In this context, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Egypt’s CEO and Managing Director Ihab El Sewerky said: “Since the Bank's launch of the sustainability plan in line with ADCB's strategy, we have been able to achieve unprecedented steps in this file to support our customers in their green transition”.

We are pleased with this cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) because we are keen to make international partnerships at this level to expand the portfolio of sustainable financing. Supporting the Bank in supporting SMEs customers, believing that technical support for our customers is an important incentive to increase their efficiency to enhance their competitiveness and help them expand into new markets that benefit the Egyptian economy and the country's serious directions to drive sustainability and promote climate finance and sustainable finance in general.

For his part, Hisham Abbas, Head of Corporate Finance and Financial Institutions and Executive Member of the Board of Directors of ADCB Egypt, stressed: "This partnership enhances the Bank's capabilities towards achieving a sustainable growth strategy, supporting responsible investment in projects with positive impact and driving our customers to shift towards environmental and social governance practices in line with Egypt Vision 2030.

He noted that the partnership offers the Bank to meet its targets for sustainable financing until 2030, which is 15% of the total loan portfolio, relying on the launch of a range of sustainable banking products and services to support environmental and community projects and activities.

In the same context, Patrick Jean Gilabert, representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Regional Office in Egypt, said that he was pleased to cooperate with ADCB.

Noting the importance of working hand in hand with the banking sector to provide green and sustainable domestic financing to SMEs, he stressed that climate action was one of UNIDO's top priorities, at the global, regional and country levels, and in Egypt, the vast majority of UNIDO's technical cooperation portfolio was in the area of environment and energy.

Annachiara Scandone, UNIDO Industrial Development Expert and Director of the IGGE Project, “Through the Switzerland-funded Inclusive Green Growth Project in Egypt, UNIDO is working with its Government and private sector partners to promote the creation and growth of 150 green micro, small and medium enterprises.”

She added that Enhancing financial institutions such as ADCB for green SMEs is key to building a prosperous private sector, enabling sustainable economic growth while protecting the environment.

It is worth mentioning that Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Egypt (ADCB) has announced the launch of the first sustainable account in Egypt designed specifically for companies to manage their funds while achieving their strategy to transition towards a sustainable economy.

The launch of this account is in line with Egypt's Sustainability Plan 2030 and ADCB’s recently announced strategy to join the banking alliance to reduce net carbon emissions to zero. It is an alliance of more than 130 leading global banks aligning their loans and investment portfolios with the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 or earlier and meeting the requirements of reducing global warming.