Dr. Dalia Sakr has more than 25 years of experience in providing energy, resource efficiency, and climate change-related advisory services in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia regions. She is at present the founder and CEO of SHiFTERRA Consultancy.

She has a PhD degree on Cleaner Production, Cleaner Products, Industrial Ecology and Sustainability from Erasmus University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Master of Science in Environmental Engineering Specialization from the American University in Cairo. She was an instructor at the AUC Engineering Services teaching Environmental Management Systems. In the Netherlands, she supervised the research work of PhD candidates in the International PhD Program on Sustainability.

Dr. Sakr previously advises H.E. Minister of Environment (Egypt) on circular economy and resource efficiency, solid waste management, attracting private sector investments and promotion of green entrepreneurship. She participated in meetings with Ministers and other high-level officials to discuss and present project activities.  This is in addition to inter-ministerial coordination meetings on national level climate change projects. She has excellent contacts with climate change-related stakeholders in Egypt.

Dr. Sakr is a seasoned expert in providing consultancy services to multilateral organizations, such as UNIDO, UNDP, EBRD, and GIZ. Moreover, she has led the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Resource Efficiency (REF) Program, under the World Bank Group (WBG), in the extended MENA region across 19 countries including Pakistan (2010-2016). This program aimed to increase investments in clean technologies and support efficiency led savings in energy, water, materials to improve the competitiveness of the private sector and mitigate climate change. The REF assessments provided to more than 50 clients in MENA identified total investments of about $25 million, annual economic savings of $18 million, and annual energy consumption reductions of 400 GWh (equivalent to 50 MW power plant). She has closely coordinated with IFC investment teams, to generate bankable project pipeline that led to either direct IFC financing or self/commercial banks finance. She was a member of WB’s Energy team on Egypt Energy Programmatic TA for implementation of Reforms project, where one of the activities was to strengthen the capacity of MoRE’s Energy Efficiency Unit (EECCD). Setting up partnerships and operational coordination mechanisms was a regular aspect of her work internally within WBG and with donors, federal/municipal governments, financial institutions, and other stakeholders across the extended MENA region.

Dr. Sakr’s climate expertise was consolidated by involvement in mobilizing sustainable and nationally-appropriate climate action through preparing the update to Egypt’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) up to 2030, GHG emission reduction calculations for energy efficiency measures under Egypt’s National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP II), development of sectoral Low-Emission Development Strategies (LEDS), preparing Egypt’s first Biennial Update Report (BUR) and first Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) NDC Tracking Chapter, and supporting the national climate Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system. She participated in developing a comprehensive documentation for a NAMA on small to medium scale PV for commercial and industrial sector to be submitted for international support and participated in building the capacity of stakeholders in Egypt in relation to NAMA. She was appointed as National Consultant with South Pole team for EBRD’s  Finance and Technology Transfer Centre for Climate Change (FinTECC) TC Programme - MRV and Carbon Market in Egypt: “Cairo Integrated Transport Project”,  developed in cooperation with the Ministry for the Ecological Transition (MITECO) of Spain. Importantly, she has been nominated by the climate National Focal Point to the UNFCCC Roster of Experts as a national expert on GHG inventory, mitigation, adaptation, and importantly financial support. Moreover, she is a reviewer undertaking technical analysis of mitigation actions and effects of BURs from Partied not included in Annex I to the Convention. This added to her extensive CDM experience and knowledge of relevant UNFCCC and IPCC methodologies. In the context of project development and technical assistance, she has provided numerous trainings on finance procedures, MRV arrangements, climate change, environmental management, and other topics.

Furthermore, she has solid expertise with green and climate finance. She was appointed with DAI Global under the position of Egypt GHG and Climate Data Consultant on the USAID Business Egypt project to support in the capacity building and technical assistance for financial institutions in relation to climate risk assessment and management. Previously, she explored with IFC innovative finance mechanisms (i.e. fintech for SMEs in solar pumping and agricultural waste utilization) and business models to improve access to finance for potential farmers and linkages to financial institutions. Dr. Sakr supported KfW (German Development Bank) to prepare Project Concept Document on the establishment of a Special Purpose Vehicle (Energy Efficiency Fund) in Egypt. In preparation to COP27, she drafted climate finance proposals for the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy in cooperation with UNDP. Moreover, she received “Green Banking MENA: Applying Green Energy Finance Programme” by Renewables Academy (RENAC) on green energy finance and international climate finance and passed the exam with distinction.

Furthermore, Dr. Sakr has also participated an independent evaluator with UN organizations to evaluate environmental projects/programme relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and progress to impact. She was appointed as the National Independent Evaluator (final evaluation) for Industrial Energy Efficiency project, is a programme financed by the Global Environment Facility and implemented by UNIDO in cooperation with a number of partners in Egypt over the past 5 years. Moreover, the Mid-term evaluation for UNIDO’s Industrial Motors Energy Efficiency project in Egypt. Participated as well in a joint evaluation for 8 countries operating GEF Small Grants Programme to evaluate progress and identify lessons learned across different regions.

Additionally she led several studies and trainings with GIZ on solid waste management and circular economy. She supported the preparatory work of UNIDO to launch the eco-industrial parks programme in Egypt. Furthermore, among her key projects with IFC is a waste-to-energy market study on alternative fuels (MSW, agricultural waste, sewage sludge, scrap tires) usage for the cement sector in Egypt.  She was also a Business Growth Advisor (BGA), which was an initiative launched under GIZ’s National Solid Waste Management Programme in Egypt. In addition, she provided several environmental consultancy services to landfills, composting plants, wastewater treatment plants, solid waste management companies, among others. Furthermore, she was previously the Executive Director of Egypt Green Building Council (GBC), member of World GBC, with a focus on promoting the selection of sustainable building materials, recycling, and closing the waste loop in the construction and buildings sector.

Furthermore she participated in conducting environmental & social assessments that range from utilities to corporate sector, such as: Suez Environment wastewater treatment plant (Jordan), CEMEX Egypt captive power plant and partial fuel switching project to biomass residues and biomass from dedicated plantation (Egypt), Veolia Environment leachate ponds (Egypt), fish canning sector (Morocco), Nuqul Group/tissue paper manufacturing (Egypt & Jordan), Maba Farm (Egypt), Bunny’s Limited Bakery Products (Pakistan), green buildings assessments (Lebanon and Egypt). Under Quality Austria, she was a certified environmental & quality manager and ISO 14001 & ISO 9001 auditor and trainer.

She has co-/authored numerous policy papers, peer reviewed journal papers, and technical reports, such as: World Bank policy paper on recommended measures to scaling up distributed solar (off-grid) in emerging markets with the focus on Egypt, Circularity as Green Recovery Industrial Strategy with Alternative Policy Solutions at AUC (food & beverages, textiles, and cement sectors), commentary on Climate Change and Lessons Learned from COVID-19, among others.