Before the Revolution, Egypt suffered considerable neglect of environmental issues. Heavily subsidized fuel was used at an alarming rate, causing considerable damage to the atmosphere. Restraints on fuel subsidies currently being implemented by the new administration in Egypt have meant a new emphasis on the efficient use of resources. With the slow rebuilding of the economy in Egypt and the government’s efforts to promote tourism again, attention is being placed on the environment which had been neglected for a long time. Additionally, Egypt faces problems regarding electricity and water supply.
As this book was completed, the new Egyptian president, Abdelfattah El-Sisi, attended the United Nations Climate Summit on September 23, 2014, in New York to discuss climate change problems and the consequences on peoples’ lives. In reviewing the national effort to deal with climate change and its negative effects on Egypt, he invited the developed countries to invest in renewable energy projects in the Middle East to help with the shift to a more environmental-friendly business model in the region. He said
Our nations suffer from aggravated energy crises at a time when they look to achieve high rates of growth, which requires an expansion of renewable energy projects to provide energy with the transformation to an economic model that is more environmentally friendly.
He added, “I invite developed countries, financial institutions and the private sector to invest in these projects.” This was intended to motivate public and private sector organizations to adopt the sustainability concept in their daily work activities, and the idea has been received positively. For example, after the recent directives of President Sisi for the necessity to rationalize energy consumption, Mr. Alaptati Majdi, governor of Beni Suef (one of the governorates of Egypt), issued a decision to rationalize the consumption of electricity in the offices of the governorate and placed advertisements on the streets. This decision was aimed to decrease the current consumption by 50 percent and included promoting the use of solar energy in lighting advertisements to help toward paying the cost.
There is widespread concern from environmental experts that the way many companies in Egypt are operating might compromise future generations in terms of the availability of resources. Interest in “People, Planet, and Profits” (PPP) was sometimes espoused by multinationals operating in Egypt in the past, but some of these companies have left the country with the Revolution and economic dislocation, although they represented only a part of the economy. The SME sector in Egypt has always been one of the main drivers of the economy, but this sector rarely showed an interest in PPP, the environment, and sustainability. Anecdotal evidence from interviews with SME leaders by the author suggests a widespread lack of conviction in the importance of the environment, and insistence that short-term profitability is the focus. However, things are changing now and there is more pressure on businesses to take an interest in these issues. Yet, there is a lack of clarity about the attributes (characteristics, personality, competencies, qualities, or character) of leaders who can run an SME and who have a predisposition to focus on environmental and resource sustainability.
The above illustrates why the author tackled this subject in this book.
Amr Sukkar