TODAY: KSA and China’s Human Horizons sign a USD 5.6 bn EV partnership agreement
Good morning, ladies and gents. The regional climate updates have tapered off slightly as we hit a mid-week slump, but there are a couple of big ripples coming from KSA and the UAE.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORIES- Saudi Arabia has signed a USD 5.6 bn agreement with Chinese electric car manufacturer Human Horizons to develop, manufacture, and sell electric vehicles and UAE renewables giant Masdar has signed a roadmap agreement with Kazakhstan to develop a 1 GW wind farm with a battery energy storage systems facility.
^^ We have the details on these stories and more in the news well, below.
HAPPENING TODAY- There’s a handful of events kicking off in the region today:
- Innovation Summit Saudi Arabia is opening its doors in Riyadh and running through to tomorrow hosting sessions on how digitization can support the decarbonization of oil and gas and scaling up hydrogen among other topics.
- The UAE is hosting The Arab Green Summit today and tomorrow in Dubai, bringing together industry players and experts for conversations on climate change and sustainability and solutions for concurrent climate-related issues in the region.
- The Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Africa is kicking off today in Marrakech, Morocco and running through to tomorrow, gathering stakeholders from the private and public sector to discuss the world’s most pressing topics and assess potential solutions.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- Biparjoy alert for India, Pakistan: Authorities in India and Pakistan are on high alert as they brace for the “extremely severe” Biparjoy cyclone set to hit some of the two countries’ coastal regions this week. The wind speed of the cyclone could rise to as high as 150 kilometers per hour, crossing over India’s Saurashtra and Kutch and neighboring Pakistan coasts on Thursday, the India Meteorological Department said yesterday. Concerns over the cyclone have pushed authorities to begin evacuating thousands of people away from impacted regions, with Pakistan alone evacuating over 80k people from coastal cities in Sindh and moving others in dangerous buildings in Karachi to safer zones. This year’s first severe cyclone for the two countries comes as the region continues to see climate-driven extreme weather conditions.
The story grabbed headlines in the international press: Reuters | Bloomberg | The Associated Press | The Guardian | BBC
The Enterprise Finance Forum is our flagship gathering — the one so many of you have been waiting for. The two-day event takes place this September. Stay tuned for more information on the location.
This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings that allow senior members of our community to openly and frankly discuss critical issues in key sectors of the economy.
Day one is our Banking Forum, where we’ll dive deep into topics of interest to commercial and investment bankers, from an outlook on the 12 months to come in M&A, IPO, and debt capital markets to the national, regional, and global trends that are (re)shaping our industry.
Day two is all about Fintech and Non-Banking Financial Services. We’ll take a deep dive into everything from the magic of client acquisition to the prospects of consolidation and the coming of challenger banks.
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** NEW: MORE NETWORKING TIME- Our agenda includes expanded networking time, including an expanded coffee break and a post-event networking room for you to interact with your peers and speak one-on-one with the team at Enterprise.
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STAY TUNED for more detail about our exciting agenda in the weeks to come.
ENTERPRISE IS LOOKING FOR SMART, TALENTED PEOPLE of all backgrounds to help us build some very cool new things. Enterprise — the essential morning read on all the important news shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region — is looking for writers, reporters and editors to help us build out new publications. Today, we run four daily Egypt and MENA-focused publications, five weekly industry verticals, and a weekend lifestyle edition designed to make our readers feel just a bit smarter.
We have tons more in the pipeline — come help us build new publications. We offer the chance to work in a fast-paced newsroom on a broad range of topics and in a variety of formats. Our goal is simple: To create value for our growing community of >250k daily readers by telling stories that matter.
Journalists looking to explore business, finance and economic stories are welcome. So are recent journalism school graduates.
That said, we're looking for gifted story-tellers from all walks of life and across all professions, as long as they show a keen interest in learning to write about the stories, topics, businesses, and figures moving markets. Egyptian and foreign nationals alike are welcome to apply. So are job-switchers: If you’re an equities analyst tired of the rat race, we’re a great place to come work.
NEVER WORKED IN A NEWSROOM BEFORE? We have the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program. Whether you are a recent graduate, an industry vet, or looking to switch careers, the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program will give you the tools you need to tell the most important stories to our audience of C-suite officials, government ministers, diplomats, financiers, investors and entrepreneurs.
During the program you will learn:
- The key news stories and trends shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region, across various sectors;
- Business and finance for non-finance people: Whether it's industry jargon or key concepts or simply how to read a balance sheet;
- How to construct an Enterprise story: From idea formulation down to the structure, style and tone of writing;
- How to develop sources that will give you the key insights needed to tell a complete story;
- How to communicate these stories with the confidence and language of an insider.
Not an internship program — a career: The three-month program will see full-time, paid participants take part in workshops and lectures from veteran business journalists, while also working on and filing stories that will run on any of our publications. Those who have successfully completed the program, will then be given long-term job offers.
Apply directly to jobs@enterprisemea.com and mention “writing development program” in your subject line.
WATCH THIS SPACE #1- The Qataris’ next big check is going elsewhere: Qatar is planning to pour in more capital in Asia and the US through investments in climate change, infrastructure, and digitization, the country’s sovereign wealth fund’s top dealmakers told Bloomberg this week. “We will continue to deploy in the continent, but a larger share of our investments will be going to the other two regions, given the opportunities we see in the US and in places like China and India,” Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) CEO Mansoor Ebrahim Al Mahmoud said.
Europe also could be getting a taste: QIA — among the top sovereign investors in Europe — also plans to continue backing its leading holdings to handle issues like climate change and energy transition through significant capital if necessary. “We can deploy capital quickly when the right investment is presented to us,” QIA’s Chief Investment Officer for Europe, Turkey, and Russia Ahmed Al-Hammadi said. Last year, QIA became a shareholder in Germany's largest power producer RWE with a 9.1% stake, giving the company sufficient capital to purchase USD 6.8 bn in renewable energy assets from US-based investor-owned energy company Consolidated Edison.
WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Vodafone Egypt will invest EGP 330 mn this year into renewable energy sources to operate its network, as the Vodafone Group aims to use 100% renewable energy by 2025, Al Mal quotes Vodafone Egypt’s External Affairs Director Ayman Essam as saying. The company will rely on renewable energy supplied by the country’s New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), and has already purchased 260 GWh of renewable energy to power its network, Essam said.
WATCH THIS SPACE #3- Poland is suing the EU over fossil fuel car ban: Poland intends to file a lawsuit “in the coming days” with the European Court of Justice over EU regulations prohibiting the sale of combustion engine vehicles starting from 2035, Reuters quotes the country’s Climate Minister Anna Moskwa as saying. The EU rules lack a proper market analysis and do not take into account the full social consequences the prohibition will have, Poland argues. In 2021, Poland raked in c. EUR 3.2 bn from car exports, according to research by Statista.
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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-
Ireland will host the European Climate Change Adaptation Conference on Monday, 19 June to Wednesday, 21 June in Dublin. During the two-day conference, Europe’s leading climate researchers will present the latest climate action tools, decision-support platforms, and prototype climate adaptation services to 500 attendees. The audience includes adaptation experts, policy-makers, local authorities, private sector companies, investors, NGOs, and citizen and youth organizations.
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.
Thailand will host the second workshop on addressing loss and damage from 15-16 July in Bangkok. The workshop will see discussions on pathways to increasing funding for climate-induced loss and damage. The workshop is being held in preparation for the third meeting of the COP27 Transitional Committee in August. The committee is tasked with operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund, to be approved during the fourth transitional meeting in October.
Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers.