TODAY: Masdar-led consortium has a land agreement in place for 10 GW Egyptian wind farm
Good morning, friends. We have big news from Egypt today and a couple of stories to note from other parts of the region. Let’s jump in.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORIES- UAE’s Masdar, Infinity Power, and Hassan Allam Utilities signed a land allocation agreement with the Egyptian government for the 10 GW wind farm and KSA’s SABIC Agri-Nutrients has sent its first shipment of low-carbon ammonia to Taiwan.
^^ We have the details on these stories and more in the news well, below.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- Canadian wildfire smoke triggered health alerts from Environment Canada yesterday as the country remains on track for its worst-year ever of destruction amid an early start to its intense wildfire season. The smoke has polluted air over Toronto and Ottawa on the back of blazes in nearly all of Canada’s provinces and territories. “Smoke plumes from local forest fires as well as forest fires in Quebec have resulted in deteriorated air quality,” Environment Canada said, putting air quality in category 10+, the worst level on Environment Canada's Air Quality Health Index. The smoke from the Canadian wildfires has moved south, covering much of the eastern US and Great Lakes to impact New York City.
The story grabbed headlines in the international press: Reuters | Bloomberg | CNN | NBC News
WATCH THIS SPACE #1- A new green hydrogen project in Egypt? A consortium comprising real estate developer GV Developments and unnamed companies from Egypt, the US, and France will sign the framework agreement for a utility-scale green hydrogen and ammonia production project in Egypt’s Tarboul Industrial City by the end of the month, GV executives confirmed to Enterprise Climate yesterday. “Final contracts will be signed at a later stage,” GV Group Chairman Sherif Hamouda said. “This shows how far Tarboul City is faring in terms of sustainability and taking the lead in the green industry,” said GV Developments Group Chief Business Development Officer Ahmed Abdel Ghany. They did not name the companies involved in the consortium nor the plant’s projected production capacity or cost.
WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Muscat wants to overhaul public transport in a bid to reach net zero: The Greater Muscat Structure Plan has been submitted to Oman’s Housing and Urban Planning Ministry in a bid to help the country realize its carbon-neutrality targets by 2050, The National reports. The new sustainable mobility plan — due to be officially published in 3Q — involves the establishment of a light railway spanning some 54 km, water taxis to cover the full length of Muscat’s 175 km coastline, and the launch of a new bus system in a bid to put approximately a third of Muscat’s population within a 20-minute walk from public transport. Some 1.5 mn cars were registered in the country last year alone partly on the back of inadequate public transport networks.
WATCH THIS SPACE #3- Egypt ramps up public sector spending on renewables: Egypt plans to increase public green investments to 50% of total investments by FY 2024-25, up from the current 30-40%, according to a Planning and Economic Development statement. A draft economic and social development plan, presented by Planning Minister Hala El Said before the Senate, sets out targets for the government to complete the second phase of the climate risk mapping project, expand the industrial emission monitoring network by adding 13 new monitoring points, and carry out 12 field research trips to monitor water quality in the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, and local lakes. The plan has been passed to the House of Representatives for discussion and final approval.
WATCH THIS SPACE #4– Bonn Climate Change Conference kicks off without final agenda: The Bonn Climate Change Conference — set to conclude on 15 June — has kicked off without agreeing on a final agenda for technical discussions, casting doubts on whether the conference will yield a concrete program for COP28, Reuters reports. The Bonn conference aims to prepare decisions for adoption at COP28 and is considered a pulse check for how ambitious talks will be at the global climate conference.
Essential preparations for COP28: Although months of discussions have been taking place since COP27 in Egypt, no agreement has been reached on adopting the agendas proposed by the COP permanent subsidiary bodies for the Bonn conference, UN Subsidiary Body for Implementation Chair Nabeel Munir said at Bonn. While the non-adoption of an agenda is “not uncommon in a party driven process,” making as much progress as possible during Bonn is crucial, since the conference will set the technical groundwork for the political decisions required at COP28, said executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Simon Stiell.
WATCH THIS SPACE #5- Carbon removal industry’s fate in the balance? A leaked UN document says that nature-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) methods — such as tree-planting — are preferable to those that use machines or other technology, Bloomberg reports. If published, the note could have negative repercussions for the carbon offset market, which is estimated at USD 2 bn today. The note refers to direct air capture — grabbing carbon directly from the atmosphere — rather than carbon capture and storage technologies that capture carbon from the emission source.
What’s the UN’s reasoning? According to the UN note, the effectiveness of direct-air capture of CO2 in mitigating climate change is “technologically and economically unproven,” given that it is only able to remove a few thousand tons of carbon a year and remains expensive and energy intensive. Technology-based removals are also “not suitable for implementation in developing countries and do not contribute to reducing the global mitigation costs,” the note added.
Nature-based solutions aren’t all positive either: While nature-based solutions are cheaper and more established, they “have a shaky history when it comes to reliability and durability,” not to mention that they require wide tracts of land to be effective, Bloomberg said.
ALSO- Governments are realizing there is much to gain from the carbon market: A growing number of governments want to capitalize on the USD 2 bn market by taxing, regulating, or restricting trade in credits generated within their borders, Bloomberg reported, citing the governments of Indonesia, Kenya, and Honduras. By regulating the carbon market, governments can raise revenues or collect credits that could be put toward their own national climate goals, as well as gain “a slice of the revenues made by foreign project developers.”
WATCH THIS SPACE #6- A new EV chapter for Ferrari: Italian luxury automaker Ferrari’s factory for electric supercars will launch operations in June 2024, CEO Benedetto Vigna told Bloomberg on Monday. The automaker plans to unveil its first fully electric vehicle in the fourth quarter of 2025, Vigna said. He added that battery-only and plug-in hybrid models will dominate the automaker’s portfolio during the second half of the decade.
WORTH READING- Rich countries could pay reparations for excessive emissions: Over-emitting rich countries could be liable to pay up to USD 192 tn in climate reparations to the rest of the world by 2050, analysis published in the journal Nature Sustainability on Monday showed. Most of the reparations would be owed by the US, the UK, and the EU, which are the world’s top emitters, according to tweets by Jason Hickel, co-author and professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. The study’s scope only covers reparations owed for atmospheric appropriation, Hickel said, stressing that this should be considered in addition to other costs related to transition, adaptation, and damages. Read the full thread here.
Atmospheric appropriation? “Not all countries are equally responsible for the depletion of carbon budgets, however; some nations have contributed more to causing this crisis than others. This disproportionate historical responsibility is problematic from a climate justice perspective that recognizes the atmosphere as a shared commons, to which all people are entitled to a fair and equitable use,” the research says.
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THE DANGER ZONE- New record: CO2 emissions are now 50% higher than pre-industrial volumes, Reuters reports, citing research by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, both of which measured greenhouse gas emissions above a volcano in the US. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels observed above the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory in Hawaii reached 424 parts per mn (ppm) last month, up 3 ppm from the previous record in 2022. CO2 emissions are typically recorded in May because that is the month carbon levels peak in the Northern Hemisphere, Reuters notes, adding that Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory began recording GHG emissions back in 1958 when average emissions totaled 320 ppm. The steady ascent in carbon levels since records began is “a direct result of human activity,” the newswire quotes NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad as saying.
CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-
Saudi Arabia will host the Arab-Chinese Business Conference next Sunday, 11 June and Monday, 12 June in Riyadh. The conference will bring together CEOs, business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs from the Middle East and China to collaborate on new trade and investment initiatives in different sectors, including renewables and minerals. A panel discussion titled Clean Energy and Renewables – Pathways to Emissions Reduction is scheduled on the first day, according to the program (pdf). The second day will focus on the localization of renewable energy and on value chain opportunities in mining.
The UAE will host The Arab Green Summit on Tuesday, 13 June to Wednesday, 14 June in Dubai. The two-day summit will bring together industry players and experts for conversations on climate change and sustainability and solutions for concurrent climate-related issues in the region. Key themes to be addressed during the summit include industry decarbonization, renewable and clean energy potential and implementation, sustainable building and construction and others.
Morocco will host the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Africa on Tuesday, 13 June to Wednesday, 14 June in Marrakech. The event will bring together stakeholders from the private and public sector to discuss the world’s most pressing topics and assess potential solutions. Those include the impact of a decelerating global economy, spiking food and energy prices, supply-chain shocks and risks of distress among sovereign borrowers.
France will host The Summit for a New Global Financial Pact on Thursday, 22 June to Friday, 23 June in Paris. The two-day summit will bring together heads of states and heads of multilateral development banks, international organizations, the private sector and international NGOs to shape a new finance “toolbox” and “pave the way towards a more balanced financial partnership between the north and south.” It will also see new agreements in a bid to relieve debt distress and allow countries to access additional financing to invest in sustainable development and slash emissions.
Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers.