The Spring Academy “Greening CGIs in the MENA Region” was organised by the Euro-Mediterranean Guarantee Network (EMGN) on 21 – 24 March 2022, as part of its activities in the field of peer-to-peer learning and capacity development.

The EMGN Academy is promoted by the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA), the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The Spring Academy, conducted virtually, was co-organised by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), implemented by the Change initiative, and Co-hosted by the Global Network of Guarantee Institutions (GNGI).

This spring academy was designed to share knowledge and good practices among Credit Guarantee Institutions (CGI) from South and East Mediterranean partner countries around the topic of “Green Finance”. The academy followed a methodological approach on the principles and steps of Design Thinking and the process was guided by a professional facilitator.

Key highlights from the EMGN Spring Academy training workshop:

• The MENA region faces a number of Climate and Environmental challenges. This requires climate mainstreaming which is a multi-stage process, including:
  • Assessment for informed planning and decision-making
  • Integrated planning for advancing climate commitments
  • Inclusive budgetary and regulatory processes
  • Financing climate action
  • Accountability through improved monitoring and evaluation for increased accountability
  • Accessing knowledge and building capacity

• The financial sector and governments have heard the call for action regarding climate change. Many countries in the Arab region have ramped up their actions on sustainable finance; the world is looking towards the region and Egypt as host of the COP 27 this year.
• There is a need to mainstream climate action within CGIs, this can be achieved through; Committing to climate strategies, Managing climate-related risks, Promoting climate smart objectives, and Accounting for climate performance.
• Green Guarantees can be considered as an opportunity for CGIs in terms of; accessing donors / DFIs funding, proving additionality, and growth among others.
• CGIs can tackle the climate and environmental challenges by designing green products to “ensure guaranteeing good” or by applying environmental risk assessment to all products to “avoid guaranteeing bad”. The green window can include sustainable energy, cleaner production, climate-smart agri, natural resources management, green services, among others.