Energy Transition & Climate Change
Sahar Albazar: No Country Should Be Left Behind in the Energy Transition
“The readiness of each country for the energy transition differs, and this is something that we all as a global community need to put into perspective,” says Sahar Albazar, Member of the Egyptian House of Representatives and Deputy Chair of its Foreign Relations Committee. She founded the global “Ubuntu Initiative,” which calls for debt swaps to finance renewable energy projects.
During the 2025 Munich Security Conference, Sahar Albazar joined the Energy Security Hub @BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt Pavilion. Together with Timo Blenk (CEO & Partner, Agora Strategy Group AG), Shiva Dustdar (Director, Head and Dean, EIB Institute) and Emmanuel Marfo (Director for West and Central Africa, Climate Parliament), Sahar took part in our panel session entitled “North-South Interdependence: Crafting Win-Win Partnerships for Energy Security.”Panelists talked about the importance of fair climate finance for the Global South in the green transition process. The key question was: How can public-private partnerships advance sustainable growth and focus on energy security, climate resilience, and innovation?
Sahar Albazar | Ubuntu Parliamentary Initiative for Climate Finance
Sahar Albazar is chair of the Women’s Parliamentary Council of the IMF-World Bank network and formerly was president of the Bureau of Young Parliamentarians at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). In 2022, she was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and a Yale World Fellow. Albazar holds a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.
In 2023, Sahar Albazar launched the global Ubuntu Parliamentary Initiative for Climate Finance, which seeks to create a new financial architecture that eases the debt burdens of lower-middle-income countries on their path to green transition. Through debt swaps for renewable energy projects, suspension of debt service, and a framework debt rescheduling, the initiative helps the Global South nations better adapt to climate policies.Ubuntu, a South African concept meaning “I am because you are,” symbolizes the togetherness of the Global South countries in the struggle for fair climate finance. As Albazar points out, the initiative “brings us as human beings from the Global South to voice […] our demands […] to have just access to finance, so we can catch up because the world cannot leave any other countries behind.”
Questions? Contact us.
BMW Foundation Team