Decisions about energy policy in Egypt are usually made behind closed doors, with little room at the table for anyone outside of the government and the private sector.

“We are trying to say that there should be a seat for civil society,” says Isabel Bottoms, lead author of newly released report titled “80 Gigawatts of Change: Egypt’s Future Electricity Pathways.”...

...The report carefully avoids endorsing any particular strategy, but a few are clearly bad news, and cast doubt on the wisdom of Egypt’s current plans. In itsVision 2030 plan, the government set targets of generating 29 percent of electricity from coal and 9 percent from nuclear power by 2030.

Scenarios including nuclear and coal power fared poorly in qualitative and quantitative assessments. The report found that adding even 14 percent coal power to the mix would result in fewer jobs than the baseline scenario, while also causing more carbon emissions, making Egypt more dependent on imports, and increasing overall costs.