In Short : ADCB (Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank) has joined the UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) Inclusive Green Growth in Egypt Program. This collaboration suggests a commitment to promoting sustainable and inclusive economic development in Egypt, aligning with the goals of green growth and environmental sustainability.
In Detail : Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Egypt announced the collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and its joining of the Inclusive Green Growth in Egypt (IGGE) program, which aims to support small and medium enterprises, especially in economic sectors that aim to shift towards a green economy, such as renewable energy projects, resource efficiency, sustainable agriculture and food production, and waste management.
The announcement was made at the bank’s headquarters by Mr. Hisham Abbas, Head of Financial Institutions and Corporate Finance and Executive Member of the Board of Directors, representing the Bank, and Mr. Patrick Jean Gilabert, Representative of the Regional Office Hub in Egypt of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and a number of senior managers from both sides attended.
This collaboration comes within the framework of the Bank’s strategy to achieve sustainability, as UNIDO will provide technical support to the Bank’s clients and raise the efficiency of the sustainable finance staff, in addition to providing technical assistance to issue sustainable financial and non-financial products and services aimed at enhancing climate financing to achieve the strategy and objectives of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank – Egypt.
In this context, Mr. Ihab ElSewerky , CEO and Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Egypt, commented: “Since the bank launched the sustainability plan in line with Abu Dhabi Commercial Group’s strategy, we have been able to achieve unprecedented steps in this file with the aim of supporting our customers in their journey towards green transformation. Today, we are happy with this cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization because we are keen to activate international partnerships at this level to expand the sustainable financing portfolio, and to enable the bank to support small and medium enterprise clients, believing that technical support to our clients is an essential incentive to raise their efficiency to enhance their competitiveness and help them expand in new markets to benefit the Egyptian economy and the state’s serious directions to develop sustainability and enhance climate finance and sustainable finance in general.”
For his part, Mr. Hisham Abbas, Head of Financial Institutions and Corporate Finance and Executive Member of the Board of Directors of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Egypt, confirmed: “This partnership enhances the bank’s capabilities towards achieving a sustainable growth strategy, supporting responsible investment in projects with a positive impact, and pushing our clients to shift towards environmental and social governance practices consistent with Egypt’s Vision 2030. This partnership also confirms the bank’s progress in achieving its targets for sustainable financing until 2030, which is 15% of the total loan portfolio, based on launching a group of sustainable banking products and services to support environmental and community projects and activities.”
From his side Mr. Patrick Jean Gilabert, Representative of the Regional Office Hub in Egypt of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), expressed his pleasure in the collaboration with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Egypt, pointing out the importance of working hand in hand with the banking sector to provide dedicated homegrown green and sustainable finance for SMEs. He stressed that climate action is one of UNIDO’s top priorities, at the global, regional and country levels, and indeed in Egypt, the vast majority of UNIDO’s technical cooperation portfolio is in the environment and energy field. Ms. Annachiara Scandone, UNIDO Industrial Development Expert and IGGE Project Manager, added “through the Swiss-funded Inclusive Green Growth in Egypt project, UNIDO together with its partners from Government and private sector foster the creation and growth of 150 green MSMEs. enhancing the offerings of financial institutions like ADCB to green SMEs is key to build a prosperous private sector, enable sustained economic growth, and at the same time safeguard the environment.”
Launching the first sustainable corporate account in Egypt from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
It is worth noting that Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank announced the launch of the first sustainable corporate account in Egypt designed specifically for companies to manage their money while at the same time achieving their strategy of transitioning towards a sustainable economy. The launch of this account comes in line with Egypt’s Sustainability Plan 2030 and the strategy of Abu Dhabi Commercial Group, which recently announced its joining of the Net Zero Banking Alliance to reduce net carbon emissions to zero, an alliance that includes more than 130 leading international banks that work to align their lending and investment portfolios with the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 or earlier, and meeting the requirements to limit global warming.
