North Africa and Middle East
International Development
Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to encourage the use of renewable energy and recycling in the Middle East and North Africa.
Alan Duncan (Minister of State, International Development; Rutland and Melton, Conservative)
The UK's main focus in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is to support economic and political transition.
We are funding projects through our Arab Partnership Economic Facility which are encouraging investment in renewable energy and recycling in the MENA. For example the UK is providing £5 million between 2012 to 2015 to support the work of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the MENA region. One of EBRD's priority areas is renewable energy and energy efficiency investments.
The UK is providing £10 million between 2009 and 2014 for the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) work in MENA, which includes a study on clean energy opportunities for the private sector in six energy scarce MENA countries, as well as supporting two large electricity distribution companies in Jordan to explore opportunities to promote energy efficiency and clean energy.