CAIRO — In his Nov. 11 speech at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh, US President Joe Biden announced that his country will contribute along with the European Union and Germany to a $500 million pledge to finance Egypt's transition to clean energy. 

The financing package, Biden said, “will enable Egypt to deploy 10 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030, while bringing offline 5 gigawatts of inefficient gas-powered facilities, reducing emissions in Egypt and [the] power sector by 10%.”

Rakha Hassan, a former assistant to the Egyptian foreign minister and member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, told Al-Monitor, “Biden’s attendance at the climate summit in conjunction with the US midterm elections attests to the strong US-Egyptian ties. Biden praised Cairo for being a key pillar of stability in the Middle East and appreciated its efforts to stop the fighting in the Gaza Strip months ago.”

Hassan added, “The US president's pledge to support Cairo with $500 million to help it transition to green energy sends out a message that despite the differences on some issues with Egypt, most notably on human rights violations, the bilateral strategic relations and political and military cooperation between the two countries will remain unhindered.”