The repercussions of climate change represent one of the most important challenges facing the Arab countries, because of their negative impact on the safety and health of citizens, and the sustainability of many economic activities. In response to this matter, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development launched its Green Projects Program in support of Arab countries. The Program demonstrates the Arab Fund’s support for the transition to green economies by stimulating projects that reduce negative environmental impacts and carbon emissions, encouraging the establishment of new green projects, and supporting existing ones.

As part of this Program, the Arab Fund will:

• Provide concessionary loans for financing green projects having a lower interest rate than that of other project loans.
• Provide grants to conduct feasibility studies and designs and support institutional capacities in the Arab countries. To this effect, the Fund allocated an amount of KD 1.5 million for the first phase of the program which covers the two-year period (2023-2024).
• Launch competitions to finance innovative small green projects and allocate one million K.D. for the first phase of the program.
• Organize the Arab Conference for Cooperation on Climate Change to strengthen the cooperation of Arab countries, which will be held in the state of Kuwait from 29th to the 30th of May 2023. The conference aims at strengthening and supporting the Arab dialogue on climate change and reinforcing cooperation in countering possible negative repercussions. The conference will be attended by representatives from government institutions, scientific and research institutions, as well as Arab and international financial institutions concerned with environmental issues.
• Cooperate with Arab financial institutions to update the “Guide to Environmental Requirements for Development Projects” which was published and approved by these institutions in 2009, to keep them acquainted with recent developments, work on the exchange of previous experiences, and activate the provisions of this guide.

The Green Projects Program has been approved by the Board of Directors of the Arab Fund. The guidelines and regulations related to the implementation of its components are currently being prepared. The Arab countries and the institutions of the Arab Coordination Group (ACG) will be informed about this Program during its various stages.

One of the first activities related to this Program was the dedication of the theme chapter in the Joint Arab Economic Report for 2022 to climate change. The chapter included the definition of the climate change phenomenon, international efforts to face its repercussions, the actual situation in the Arab countries and their efforts in this regard, and the prospects for cooperation between Arab countries with respect to the exchange of information, experiences, and scientific research, and the convergence of views, in support of the aspirations of these countries.