<h3>Introduction&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h3>
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines emerging climate technologies as: &ldquo;(a) Technologies which arise from new knowledge, or the innovative application of existing knowledge (b) Those that lead to the rapid development of new capabilities (c) Those that are projected to have significant systemic and long-lasting economic, social and political impacts (d) Those that create new opportunities for and challenges to addressing global issues (e) Technologies that have the potential to disrupt or create entire industries&rdquo; (UNFCCC, 2020). These are broad definitions which can encompass a wide range of different technologies, including, but not limited to, precision agriculture, the optimization of energy and materials use, and automated detection and monitoring technologies (UNFCCC, 2020).
What is perhaps more interesting than their definition is the way in which these technologies can contribute to the realization of climate justice. Indeed, it is estimated that emerging technologies have the potential to positively impact 103 of the 169 targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals as well as reduce up to 10 times more carbon emissions than they emit in the same year (Digital Future Society, 2020). One example of this is the deployment of emerging technologies to mitigate the impact of extreme weather events and in early warning systems, which &ldquo;collect timely and relevant meteorological information in a systematic way, to enable prompt reaction in case of emergency&rdquo; (Digital Future Society, 2020).
This is already the case in several developing countries, where a number of Internet of Things (IOT) projects in use today are able to analyze and use data &ldquo;to release warnings about the risk of extreme weather events.&rdquo; In Kayonza, Rwanda, for example, farmers are able to &ldquo;receive timely warnings on their mobile phones when their national meteorological agencies forecast an extreme weather event in their areas&rdquo; (Digital Future Society, 2020).&nbsp;
Technology and justice are interlinked areas of climate change action. Climate justice, broadly speaking, concerns itself with the urgent need for climate action while taking into consideration existing injustices and inequalities within and across societies (Ghazal, 2022). Technologies can either play a conducive or hindering role in this regard. While the use of IoT technologies has been helpful in anticipating and therefore preventing large-scale consequences of natural disasters for example, the growing demand for new technologies has been proved to drive up electricity consumption, with the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector alone being responsible for about 2% of global CO2 emissions (Freitag, 2021).
In the aftermath of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), where do Egypt&rsquo;s efforts fall in terms of utilizing emerging technologies for just climate action? This article provides a glimpse into the existing emerging technologies landscape in Egypt as it pertains to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Following a brief survey of government efforts relating to climate change and emerging technologies, several areas for improvement are highlighted. The article closes with a related set of policy recommendations which center a climate justice approach to the utilization of climate technologies.
<h3>Review of government efforts and areas of improvement</h3>
In the period prior to hosting COP27, Egypt unveiled a summary of its plan for climate change action until 2050, known as the National Climate Change Strategy 2050 (NCCS-2050). The strategy adopts five goals. The first and second are main goals, which the third, fourth and fifth goals are designed to facilitate: 1. Achieving sustainable and low-emission economic growth; 2. Building resilience and adaptability to climate change; 3. Improving governance; 4. Improving infrastructure for climate finance; and 5. Promoting scientific research, technology transfer, knowledge management and awareness to combat climate change.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Although seemingly overarching and exhaustive, upon closer inspection the five goals appear to share a notable lack of specificity in terms of the exact mechanisms to be implemented for their attainment.&nbsp; Note, for example, the first objective of goal 3.1: &ldquo;energy transition by increasing the share of all renewable and alternative energy sources in the energy mix.&rdquo; The &lsquo;direction&rsquo; described to achieve said objective is &ldquo;developing new technologies to accommodate the use of renewable energy sources, such as intelligent control systems.&rdquo; This leaves us with little information indicating exactly how this development can take place. Most notably, the strategy in its entirety&nbsp; lacks&nbsp; the stipulation of timelines for each goal, or even clear monitoring mechanisms (EIPR, 2022).&nbsp;
Within the framework of the NCCS-2050, and in the lead up to COP27, Egypt launched several local initiatives for green projects across the country. One example is the &lsquo;National Initiative for Green Smart Projects in Governorates&rsquo;, which was launched jointly by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the Ministry of Local Development, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of International Cooperation, and the National Council for Women. The overarching theme of the initiative was &lsquo;attaining sustainable and smart development and addressing the environmental dimension and effects of climate change,&rsquo; with successful applicants having the opportunity to present their work at COP27 (MCIT, 2022). There are some progressive elements to the initiative, including its focus on gender, technology and climate change, and the invitation it presents to bottom-up solutions to adaptation and mitigation challenges. The standards used to evaluate each project are a bit trickier, with the first standard used by the judging panel dedicated to &lsquo;greenness&rsquo;/ &lsquo;the green element&rsquo; (Smart Green Governorates, n.d.). The criteria listed under the greenness standard refers to energy use, sustainability, and lowering greenhouse emissions, among others. However, what each criterion really means in terms of disqualifiers is unclear.&nbsp;
This is a particularly important omission, which can also be found in other governmental references or statements related to climate change, because of the widespread understanding that smart technologies immediately entail lower or cleaner energy consumption levels. In a study overviewing the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and climate change in Egypt, researchers found that the acceleration of ICT use has actually led to an increase in CO2 emissions (Mahmoud, Ibrahim &amp; Moawad, 2022). This is in line with a global trend, where developed countries deploying ICTs are found to experience enhanced environmental quality; while in developing countries, ICT usage leads to higher energy demand, and therefore environmental degradation (Mahmoud, Ibrahim &amp; Moawad, p. 377, 2022).&nbsp;
This phenomenon is directly linked to the exact stage of digital transformation that the respective countries occupy, and is therefore especially relevant for developing and least developed economies: &ldquo;Although &hellip; green technology innovations play a vital role in climate change mitigation, these only take effect when the economy reaches a high-income level. This is in part because green technology is typically expensive for individuals in low-income economies, suggesting that support mechanisms such as intellectual property protection, green finance, and governmental support are needed for accelerating diffusion and application of green technology in emerging economies&rdquo; (Matos, p. 6, 2022).
As such, demystifying green technologies &ndash; which are labeled as green but may not necessarily and initially be as climate-friendly as advertised &ndash; is key to a more transparent model of climate engagement aligned with climate justice.
One part of this demystification includes awareness raising at the public level; a goal which is in fact accounted for in the NCCS-2050. The Strategy proposes a number of policies in this regard, the majority of which are top-down, to be actioned by different ministries and research institutes. While this is a welcome indication of governmental interest in climate change awareness, more participatory practices are a recognized pillar of climate justice. The NCCS-2050&rsquo;s approach to public awareness stands to benefit from more active, rather than passive, grassroots engagement.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Generally speaking, local environmental knowledge and inclusion has been proven to &ldquo;add fundamental information to the design of adaptation policies and public engagement strategies&rdquo; (Matos, p. 5, 2022), and with the advent of new technologies, there are arguably more avenues for inclusion than ever before. While COP27 featured civil society engagement from across different governorates in Egypt, this should not be a one-time event. Sustainable avenues for conversations surrounding climate change and technology are necessary, inasmuch as they make it possible for local actors, from collective initiatives to individual startups, to have a better understanding of specific challenges and solution-gaps facing local communities, in line with social justice principles.&nbsp;
Finally, and on a more international level, further attention should be paid to the under-emphasized sister-commitment of climate finance of technology transfer. The same convention that creates the obligation to share financial resources (UNFCCC) also calls on developed countries to transfer technological developments and know-how which can assist in climate action to developing countries (UNFCCC, n.d.). This is an especially pressing obligation for developing and least developed countries, which are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.&nbsp; To this end, &ldquo;inward climate technology flows are essential to promote low emission development pathways and enhance climate resilience&rdquo; (Sharman, p. 436, 2022).&nbsp;Technology transfer was featured during COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, with a five-year work programme being launched during the Conference to promote climate technology solutions in developing countries (UNFCCC, 2022). However, the topic is only briefly highlighted in the NCCS-2050, with no directions or performance indicators dedicated to the goal itself in the Strategy. Rather than occupying the position of an afterthought, technology transfer must be viewed as a consequence of recognizing &ldquo;the historical responsibility of the industrialized West in causing global warming&rdquo; (Hamouchene, Haddioui &amp; Sandwell, 2022), and therefore, essential to the realization of the goals of the climate justice movement &ndash; not much different from climate finance obligations.&nbsp;&nbsp;
<h3>Policy recommendations summary</h3>
Although COP27 outcomes included progressive steps (such as the agreement to operationalize a fund dedicated to the issue of loss and damage), there is still a long way to go before we can safely avoid the most harmful effects of climate change. Emerging technologies can be a part of that, with improvements in the following areas being essential to ensure that they are used optimally to assist in the fight against climate change.&nbsp;
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;" aria-level="1">Identifying the early stage of digital transformation that Egypt occupies where emerging technologies, simply labeled and advertised as &ldquo;green&rdquo;, can actually lead to higher energy consumption (Mahmoud, Ibrahim &amp; Moawad, 2022).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;" aria-level="1">Recognizing the drawbacks of a predominantly top-down approach in the deployment of emerging technologies, and the benefits of effective community engagement avenues whether physical or virtual.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;" aria-level="1">Emphasizing and prioritizing the international community&rsquo;s obligation under the UNFCCC to facilitate technology transfer to global South countries in their fight against the effects of climate change.</li>
</ul>
<hr>
References
<ol>
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<li style="font-size: 10pt;" aria-level="1">MCIT Media Center. (2022). 'National Initiative for Green Smart Projects in Governorates' Kicks off&nbsp;<a href="https://mcit.gov.eg/en/Media_Center/Latest_News/News/66426">https://mcit.gov.eg/en/Media_Center/Latest_News/News/66426</a></li>
<li style="font-size: 10pt;" aria-level="1">Sharman, N. (2022). Inter-State climate technology transfer under the UNFCCC: A benefit-sharing approach.&nbsp;RECIEL 31(3)&nbsp;435-&nbsp;446 <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/reel.12454">https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/reel.12454</a></li>
<li style="font-size: 10pt;" aria-level="1">Smart Green Governorates homepage. (2022). &lsquo;National Initiative for Green Smart Projects&rsquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sgg.eg/Home/Index/">https://www.sgg.eg/Home/Index/</a> </li>
<li style="font-size: 10pt;" aria-level="1">UNFCCC. (2020). Technology Executive Committee, Twenty-first meeting (TEC/2020/21/5)&nbsp;<a href="https://unfccc.int/ttclear/misc_/StaticFiles/gnwoerk_static/tn_meetings/ef83c3e2cbdc4b16a525a60e3d53014c/b5eb84f99ff845878db9eb7c9e2a2660.pdf">https://unfccc.int/ttclear/misc_/StaticFiles/gnwoerk_static/tn_meetings/ef83c3e2cbdc4b16a525a60e3d53014c/b5eb84f99ff845878db9eb7c9e2a2660.pdf</a></li>
<li style="font-size: 10pt;" aria-level="1">UNFCCC. (2022). &lsquo;Joint Work Programme of the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism Launched at COP27&rsquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://unfccc.int/news/joint-work-programme-of-the-unfccc-technology-mechanism-launched-at-cop27">https://unfccc.int/news/joint-work-programme-of-the-unfccc-technology-mechanism-launched-at-cop27</a> </li>
<li style="font-size: 10pt;" aria-level="1">UNFCCC. (N.d). &lsquo;What is technology development and transfer?&rsquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://unfccc.int/topics/what-is-technology-development-and-transfer">https://unfccc.int/topics/what-is-technology-development-and-transfer</a>&nbsp;</li>
</ol>

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