Enterprise Climate X Forum kicks off at the Grand Egyptian Museum today

Good morning, friends. We’re really looking forward to seeing many of you in a couple of hours’ time at our inaugural Enterprise Climate X Forum, which gets underway this morning at 8am at the Grand Egyptian Museum.

Please join us in thanking the wonderful people who made all this possible: USAID, HSBC, Mashreq, Attijariwafa Bank, Etisalat by e&, Hassan Allam Utilities, and Infinity.

If you’re attending: Please plan to arrive on time. Our standing networking breakfast is one of the hallmarks of the event. It gets underway at 8am CLT sharp. Traffic in the area surrounding the GEM has been heavy of late, so you will likely want to leave a few minutes early.

** You will need a special QR code to gain admission to the GEM. Everyone who received and completed our online registration form got their QR code by email yesterday.

We regret that overwhelming demand from the community meant we could not welcome everyone who expressed interest in attending.

STAY TUNED- The Enterprise Climate X Forum is our first large-scale event, but it’s not our last. We look forward to welcoming many more of you at our slate of Enterprise X Forums coming up in 2023.

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THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- UAE-based retail giant Majid Al Futtaim has raised a USD 1.25 bn sustainability-linked loan to make its malls more LEED-friendly and cut emissions. This is the company’s second second sustainability-linked loan and will be linked to sustainability performance targets set by the company through a revolving credit facility.

ALSO- The Sharjah waste-to-energy plant is getting new operators: A JV between Emirati waste management company Bee’ah, UAE renewable energy company Masdar, and French resource management firm Veolia Middle East will operate and maintain the Sharjah waste-to-energy plant for 25 years.

^^ We have chapter and verse on these stories and more in the news well, below.

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WATCH THIS SPACE #1- The UK’s dysfunctional politics is holding back efforts to bring more clean electricity into the country: The GBP 18 bn project to link the UK grid to 10.5 GW of solar and wind plants in Morocco has been delayed by at least another year thanks to political instability in London, the Guardian reports. Project developer Xlinks had hoped that the project would start generating power in 2017 but frequent changes in the British government has made reaching a financing agreement through public subsidies difficult.

Xlinks could look elsewhere: Xlinks executive chair Dave Lewis said last month that talks with the UK had been “frustratingly slow” and that other buyers may be on the table if the UK doesn’t get its house in order. The company was expecting an assurance next year that UK consumers will pay GBP 48 per MWh.

REFRESHER- The Xlinks renewable energy project in Morocco is set to generate 10.5 GW of solar and wind energy and install 20 GWh of on-site battery storage by 2030. When complete, the project will supply 8% of the UK’s energy needs via a 3.6 GW subsea interconnector.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Green hydrogen, courtesy of BP — coming to MENA soon? British energy company BP is exploring green hydrogen production in Oman and Mauritania, BP sources told Reuters. This comes as the company is betting on hydrogen as the fuel of the future, with investments expected to reach USD hundreds of mns by 2030 globally, the newswire added. Aside from assembling a 150-person strong hydrogen division, the company is also planning to set up a “low carbon” green hydrogen center in the US, BP head of hydrogen in the US Tomeka McLeod told Reuters.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- Morocco will put into action a new strategy to develop electric transportation in 2023, Afrik21 reported yesterday. The plan aims to establish a regulatory framework for producing and distributing electricity for net-zero transportation, said sales and marketing director of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water Elamine Fechtali. The Kingdom has been working diligently to lower its emissions, ramp up investments for renewable energy, as well as advancing green mobility.

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THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- Biden’s climate bill is stoking US-EU trade tensions: Tension between the US and EU over the impact of US President Joe Biden’s USD 430 bn Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on EU industrial players has been drawing coverage in the international press. How to ensure EU companies, manufacturers and industries can compete with their US counterparts was the question dominating press coverage in the run-up to yesterday’s US-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) Ministerial Meeting in Maryland. The IRA is set to heavily subsidize US-made products in a bid to boost renewable energy and address the climate crisis. (Reuters | Financial Times | Euronews | Reuters | Euronews)

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WORTH READING- IMF brief looks at game-changing potential of green hydrogen: Hydrogen could be “a next frontier of the energy transition” with the potential to create major changes in the global geopolitical landscape, notes a recent IMF brief (pdf). Fossil fuel exporters in MENA and elsewhere can build on their existing infrastructure, trade relations, and human capitals to export green hydrogen while fossil fuel importers like Morocco and Egypt could be presented with “a geopolitical game changer,” the brief notes.

But scaling up production presents some big challenges — which makes international governance essential, the brief notes. Governments can help to push down costs and increase production by using policy instruments like public procurement and carbon contracts for difference to de-risk investment in hydrogen supply. Standards, certification and monitoring processes need to be set across the clean hydrogen value chain and developing countries should receive financial and technical support to become sites of green industrialization — not merely green hydrogen producers and exporters, the brief argues.

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HAPPENING TODAY-

Rwanda is hosting the World Circular Economy Forum starting today until Thursday in Kigali. The forum — taking place in Africa for the first time — will shed light on how the circular economy can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support climate change adaptation, and protect the planet’s biodiversity.

WORLD CUP-

It’s day 17 of the World Cup and the fourth day of the knockouts (all times CLT):

• Morocco v Spain (5pm)
• Portugal v Switzerland (9pm)

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

UAE will host the Big 5 Global Construction Impact Summit this Wednesday, 7 December at the Dubai World Trade Center. The event will bring together more than 2k exhibitors and regional and global construction industry leaders to discuss ways to meet net-zero and waste-reduction targets.

Canada will host the UN Biodiversity Conference from Wednesday, 7 to Monday, 19 December in Montreal. The main target of the conference is to determine a Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework which includes 21 targets to hit by 2030 globally in a bid to preserve and safeguard nature.

(xxMS) Tunisia will host the International Renewable Energy Congress from Tuesday, 13 December to Thursday, 15 December in Hammamet. The event will provide a platform for researchers and industry leaders to showcase trends in the renewable energy sector.

UAE-based retail giant Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) has raised a USD 1.25 bn sustainability-linked loan (SLL), the company said yesterday. This is the company’s second second SLL and will be linked to sustainability performance targets set by the company through a revolving credit facility.

Advisors: First Abu Dhabi Bank led the transaction and acted as the company's sustainability coordinator and agent for the SLL.

Where’s the money going? MAF will use the loan to implement measures to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions and achieve LEED certification standards across all its malls. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a global standard awarded to energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly buildings.

It’s not the first SLL for Majid Al Futtaim: The retail giant raised USD 1.5 bn for its first sustainability-linked loan back in August 2021, according to a company statement.

REMEMBER- Sustainability-linked bonds may not always push ESG standards forward: We’ve mentioned previously that a majority of sustainability-linked bonds currently on the market in Europe and the West are tied to weak, irrelevant or already-achieved climate targets, according to Bloomberg analysis. If firms fail to meet the targets they set out for themselves, they repay the capital they amassed from investors with financial penalties on top. Companies get cheaper financing and a green reputation while not really holding up their end of the bargain.

International consortium to operate UAE waste-to-energy plant: A joint venture between Emirati waste management company Bee’ah, UAE renewable energy company Masdar, and French resource management firm Veolia Middle East will operate and maintain the Sharjah waste-to-energy (WtE) plant for 25 years, according to a statement.

About the plant: The WtE facility is currently owned by the Emirates Waste to Energy Company (EWTE), a JV between Bee’ah and Masdar. It can process some 300k tons of municipal waste per year, resulting in a 30 MW production capacity — which will be fed directly into Sharjah’s electricity grid, Masdar notes on its website. This energy could power up to 28k homes and offset roughly 450k tons of carbon emissions every year, the statement notes.

Waste from Bee’ah’s waste management complex will serve as feedstock: Non-recoverable waste from Bee’ah’s integrated waste management complex will be thermally treated, with the heat generated then used to produce electricity. By converting non-recoverable waste to energy, the plant will help increase Sharjah’s landfill waste diversion rate to 100% from its current 76% — making it the first zero waste-to-landfill city in MENA, the statement claims.

We’ve seen Bee’ah up its WtE game lately: Bee’ah subsidiary Bee’ah Recycling recently added a new solid recovered fuel processing facility to its integrated waste management complex, which can produce some 85k tons of green fuel annually — most of which will be sold to Sharjah Cement to power its factories.

Regionally, WtE is picking up interest: A WtE project that could convert some 1.2k tons of municipal solid waste per day to 30 MWh of electricity is being planned in Abu Rawash city, Egypt’s Environment Ministry said in a recent statement. Egypt’s Suez Cement is investing USD 25 mn in plans to generate some 20 MW of power from the waste heat recovery facility at its Helwan plant. Kuwait Municipality approved a refuse-driven fuel project to power up its main cement production plant in October, and Saudi Electricity Company is reportedly planning waste energy-powered projects.

Adnoc appoints CEO of Mubadala’s UAE investments platform to lead new, low-carbon vertical: Abu Dhabi state oil company Adnoc has appointed the CEO of Mubadala’s UAE investments arm, Musabbeh Al Kaabi (LinkedIn), to head up a new division focused on low-carbon solutions and international growth, starting mid-January 2023, the Abu Dhabi wealth fund said in a statement. Al Kaabi has been CEO of Mubadala’s UAE investments platform since January 2021.

An increase in low-carbon business streams for Adnoc: The new Adnoc division that Al Kaabi will lead is set to focus on areas including Adnoc’s renewables and hydrogen portfolios low-carbon technology, like carbon capture and storage, Mubadala said.

Capturing carbon with algae: London-based startup Brilliant Planet is aiming to build giant algae ponds in Morocco’s desert to capture and sequester tons of carbon dioxide, Bloomberg reports. The process — which could potentially remove 3 bn metric tons of carbon annually — has drawn interest from investors who would have shunned the project a decade ago.

How does it work? Algae converts carbon dioxide into biomass and oxygen using photosynthesis — but it does that at a faster rate than trees because it grows faster and covers a larger surface area, QZ writes.

And what does Brilliant Planet do exactly? The startup takes algae from the sea and “feeds” it with nutrient-rich ocean water, making the algae grow faster. After the algae grows enough to fill 16 ponds — filled with 3 mn gallons of water each — large-scale photosynthesis and carbon capturing takes place. The blooms are harvested, dried in the sun and buried under the ground to be stored.

Beyond Morocco: Brilliant Planet has identified almost 300k sq miles of flat desert lands near windy coasts globally for their algae pools — which, combined, have the potential to remove 3 bn metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year. In 2021, emissions rose at 36.3 bn tons annually, their highest ever level, according to the International Energy Authority (IEA).

Investors have shown interest: The company, which was founded in 2013 and has a patent that goes back over a decade, faltered in its first attempts to draw investors. But earlier this year, the company received USD 26.7 mn from Union Square Ventures and Toyota Ventures, among other unnamed investors. The company’s model is much cheaper than direct-air capture, according to Union Square Ventures’ Mona Alsubaei. Because the company dries the algae naturally — rather than using industrial dryers — its founders claim that its emissions are almost “negligible.”

Other ocean-based carbon-removal technologies are being tested: As it becomes clear that emissions-reduction is not sufficient to limit warming, interest in carbon-removal — particularly ocean-based methods — is growing, the Financial Times reports. One method that is being explored in Alaska and New England is ocean fertilization, which entails adding iron to the oceans to stimulate marine life growth and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Green hydrogen and ammonia projects in Egypt are on their way to acquiring golden licenses after a government committee gave its approval, according to a cabinet statement issued on Sunday. The license enables new industrial and infrastructure projects to set up projects more easily. Final approval will come from Egypt’s Cabinet in an upcoming meeting.

Which projects are we talking about? Norway’s Scatec, Fertiglobe, and Orascom Construction’s 100 MW green hydrogen facility and another project set to produce 1 mn tons per year of green ammonia — both of which would take place in the Ain Sokhna Industrial Zone — are among eight approved industrial projects, the statement notes.

Go deeper: A golden license effectively serves as one single approval covering everything from project establishment, including land allocation and building licensing, through to project operation and management. Check out our recent explainer here.

Oman explores green ammonia production: Omani state-owned energy company OQ signed an MoU with three companies to conduct a feasibility study on the green ammonia and methanol production potential at Duqm and Salalah ports, according to the Oman Press Agency (ONA). The agreement was signed with Japanese investment company Sumitomo, shipping firm AP Moller-Maersk, and Omani logistics company Asyad. OQ also signed an MoU with the Oman India Fertiliser Company to explore the feasibility of blue hydrogen generation in the country’s eastern province of Sur, ONA notes.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

• The Egyptian military will produce 100 electric buses for the Cairo Ring Road bus rapid transit (BRT) system under a EGP 680 mn contract. (Transport Ministry statement)
• China-based PV manufacturer and solar developer Longi will supply 1.29 GW of PV modules for two solar farms in Saudi Arabia being developed by Indian conglomerate Larsen & Toubro. (Company statement)
• Spanish engineering consultancy firm Idom will work with Saudi Arabia to develop a zero-emission fleet of boats for the planned Saudi city of Neom. (Company statement)
• The UAE’s nuclear regulator has approved its operational blueprint for 2023-2026 as well as updates on the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant units. (Statement)
• German-owned EV designer and manufacturer Cenntro will establish an EV distribution center in Morocco. Five other centers are also being launched globally, including one in Turkey. (Company statement)
• The Hamad Bin Khalifa University received a USD 4.4 mn grant to bolster resilience to climate disasters. (University statement)
• A number of schools across Egypt’s Luxor Governorate are getting outfitted with 23 solar stations as part of a presidential initiative to develop villages. (Youm7)