The ESG Barometer exists to give Egyptian organizations and policymakers an empirical, repeatable answer to a question usually left to anecdote: is climate policy awareness actually changing how companies operate?
Noah Farhadi is the Commercial International Bank Endowed Chair and Professor of Practice in Finance at The American University in Cairo, where he leads the ESG Barometer's research design. His work sits at the intersection of sustainable finance and machine learning — spanning ESG disclosure, decarbonized profitability, and portfolio optimization — published in outlets including Business Strategy & the Environment and the Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, and represented in three pending U.S. patents on predictive modeling and portfolio construction.
He holds a PhD in Business Analytics from the University of South Alabama (Mitchell College of Business) and a DBA in Corporate Finance from Henley Business School, University of Reading. Prior to academia, he spent over a decade in global industry roles across EMEA.
The Paris Agreement carries particular weight here, for reasons specific to the country's geography and economy:
Egypt is highly vulnerable to climate impacts — Nile Delta flooding and agricultural disruption chief among them.
Egypt positioned itself as a regional climate leader by hosting COP27 in 2022.
International investment and development funding increasingly expect Paris Agreement alignment.
Egypt's Vision 2030 economic plan places sustainable development at its center.
Awareness of the Paris Agreement pays returns across the entire sustainability value chain.
Specific, measurable objectives magnify the benefits of climate policy awareness.
Sustainability strategy has substantial explanatory power (R² = 0.548) — build it into the core business model, not alongside it.
Pair formal ESG frameworks with practical operational implementation.
Integrated sustainability programs outperform isolated initiatives.
Business education on international climate commitments meaningfully lifts sustainability performance.
Common standards for goal-setting, impact measurement, and reporting address the model's key pathways directly.
Build incentives around awareness → goals → reporting to maximize policy effectiveness.
Prioritize literacy programs over relying on regulatory compliance alone.
Provide resources that help businesses turn climate knowledge into day-to-day practice.
Organizations, researchers, and policymakers shape each edition. If you'd like to contribute data, sponsor next year's fieldwork, or bring the Barometer to your sector, we'd like to hear from you.