Qatar’s Nebras Power acquires 49% of Gold Wind Australia wind farm

Good morning, ladies and gents. We have to start our day with a big hat tip to Argentina, who took home the World Cup yesterday on penalties, beating France in what was a spectacularly thrilling final match of the championship in Qatar. Qatar also gets a big hat tip from us for truly pulling off a “World Cup for everyone,” as attendees like to call it across social media.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- Another GCC acquisition of renewable assets abroad: Qatar’s Nebras Power acquired a 49% share in Gold Wind Australia’s USD 750 mn 312 MW Moorabool Wind Farm.

ALSO- ADQ adds Tadweer to its portfolio: The Abu Dhabi government transferred its ownership of Abu Dhabi Waste Management (Tadweer) to sovereign wealth fund ADQ.

^^We have the details on both stories and more in the news well, below.

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WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Saudi Arabia is designing its first direct air capture plant, Director of Circular Carbon Economy National Programme Zeid Al Ghareeb said, according to Zawya. Details about the capacity of the project and its timeline were not disclosed.

SOUND SMART- Direct air capture refers to extracting CO2 from the air for storage or reuse.

This comes amid lots of green mobility talk in KSA: The Kingdom has also initiated eight pilot projects to test the use of hydrogen in mobility, Al Ghareeb said. The aim is to power Saudi Arabia’s first hydrogen-powered train and build four refilling stations by the end of next year. Additionally, the country wants to use hydrogen in heavy-duty vehicles, establish a sustainable aviation fuel project, and use hydrogen in airports for ground services.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Masdar is eyeing the PACE partnership: Emirati renewables firm Masdar is looking to participate in the US-UAE USD 100 bn Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy (PACE), which aims to develop 100 GW of clean energy projects globally by 2035, S&P Global Commodity Insights reports. The company — which itself is looking to develop 100 GW of renewable energy by 2030 — is already in discussions about developing and investing in renewable energy projects in the US, Executive Director of Clean Energy Fawwaz Al Muharrami said, without providing further details. Signed in November, PACE aims to boost green financing in both countries and channel investment to emerging economies.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan is looking to import ammonia from the UAE, President and CEO Shunichi Kito told S&P Global Commodity Insights. Idemitsu — currently the second-largest refinery in Japan — is also looking to decarbonize the Shunan complex by 2030 by substituting coal with blue ammonia from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Kito said. Idemitsu is also testing black pellets — made of acacia wood residues and sawdust — as a green fuel source.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- The EU agreed to overhaul its carbon market in a landmark climate policy boost yesterday. After a 29-hour negotiation, the bloc also upped the speed at which power producers and steelmakers need to decarbonize, in a bid to cut emissions by 62% from 2005 levels by 2030. The story made headlines in Bloomberg, Reuters, Euronews, and CNBC.

ALSO- Barclays upped its sustainable finance goal to USD 1 tn by 2030 from its initial plan of USD 150 bn by 2025, the UK investment bank’s head of sustainable investment told Reuters. Barclays’ new target will cover everything from affordable housing and green mortgages to renewable energy.

MEANWHILE- More money is needed for the IMF’s new Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) to avoid some 66% of CO2 emissions coming from developing economies by 2030, IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva told AFP last week. Speaking on the sidelines of a panel discussion on the RST in Washington, Georgieva noted that the fund has some USD 40 bn worth of commitments, but that this is “nothing in comparison with the needs.” The IMF expects countries to step up with resources “so we don’t end up having to ration support for countries,” she added.

A recap on the RST: The trust was set up to provide general fiscal resilience, but contains special provisions for climate, with the financing currently under discussion, as we noted previously. Egypt is poised to receive some USD 1 bn from the IMF to support its climate goals, and this could come through the RST.

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WORTH WATCHING- How tracking carbon markets created a global metric for trading: Data market giant S&P Global’s Digital Indices’ director of commodities Jim Wiederhold and KraneShares’ managing director and head of strategy Luke Oliver explain how their collaboration to track both voluntary and compliance carbon markets over the past years created a metric for corporations to measure outperformers in the carbon trading and offsetting front (watch, runtime: 2:15).

Background: S&P Global signed a merger agreement with market data firm IHS Markit back in 2020, and recently acquired IHS’ Global Carbon Market index — the first to market index the carbon compliance market. S&P also launched a tracking index of their own — the S&P GSCI Global Voluntary Carbon Liquidity Weighted Index — to track the performance of companies in the voluntary side of the equation (watch, runtime 00:58).

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY- Oman, UAE look west for renewable energy agreements: Oman’s Energy Minister Badr Al Bousaidi discussed cooperation on renewable energy and decarbonization with Hungarian companies and officials last week, according to Attaqa. Emirati and Scottish officials also had similar meetings to explore renewable energy projects, Al Ittihad reports.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

UAE renewable energy firm Masdar will host Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week from Saturday, 14 January to Saturday, 21 January. The event will gather eight presidents and prime ministers and 30k participants in a series of conferences and summits including the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum, the World Future Energy Summit, Masdar’s Green Hydrogen Summit, The International Renewable Energy Agency’s Youth Forum, and the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Forum.

The UAE is hosting the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum on Saturday, 14 January and Sunday, 15 January in Abu Dhabi. The forum will discuss the ongoing global energy crisis and its impact on the green transition, energy security, and decarbonization.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

The GCC Western renewables acquisitions continue: Doha-based energy and investment company Nebras Power acquired a 49% share in Gold Wind Australia’s USD 750 mn 312 MW Moorabool Wind Farm in Victoria, the Australian Financial Review reports. Deutsche Bank was the energy company’s advisor for the acquisition.

About Moorabool: The wind farm — the continent’s sixth largest operating plant — has 104 wind turbines generating some 1 mn MWh of electricity annually, powering 10% of all homes in Victoria.

Not the Qatari firm’s first purchase down under: Nebras Power previously acquired a similar stake in Gold Wind Australia’s USD 506 mn Stockyard Hill Wind Farm in Victoria. The plant has a production capacity of 400 MW.

How much energy does Nebras own in the continent? The company’s latest acquisition brings its total stake in Australia’s wind energy-generated power up to some 800 MW, according to the news outlet.

Nebaras is expanding its renewables portfolio: The company has 22 power-generating projects in 8 different countries, producing some 6.7 GW of power. The portfolio includes 16 solar power plant projects — including a 52 MW AM Solar IPP farm in Jordan and a 125 MW Amin IPP solar plant in Oman.

ADQ adds Tadweer to its portfolio: The Abu Dhabi government transferred its ownership of Abu Dhabi Waste Management (Tadweer) to sovereign wealth fund ADQ, according to a statement. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

Tadweer manages the waste of the Abu Dhabi emirate, reporting a production capacity of over 1 mn tons of products from recycled waste materials collected from the emirate in 1H 2022.

ADQ has quite a few green-focused players under its belt: The Abu-Dhabi investment company’s subsidiaries include Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa).

Emirati tissue manufacturer Star Paper Mill will build a AED 200 mn recycled paper plant in Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (Kezad), according to a statement. The company — in partnership with India’s RC Paper Machines — signed a 50-year land lease agreement with Kezad Group to manufacture recycled kraft paper jumbo reels, which is used for producing cartons and biodegradable bags.

The details: The new facility will have the installed capacity to produce 135k tons of a variety of recycled paper including 100% eco-friendly biodegradable bag papers, the statement notes. The finished goods and raw materials handled at the port for the plant will amount to 10k TEUs of cargo annually. The company also reserved an additional land plot for potential future expansion.

Who is Star Paper Mill? Founded in 2016, the Abu Dhabi company produces about 34k tons of tissue paper annually through its manufacturing mill in the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi.

Commercial EVs are landing in the GCC: Dubai’s Admiral Mobility will bring 5k electric commercial vehicles to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to a statement. Admiral Mobility — the Dubai-based distributor of Chinese Geely EVs — entered an agreement with Geely’s new energy commercial vehicle brand Farizon Auto to sell 500 electric lorries by 2Q 2023, with an additional 2.5k lorries sold over the following 2-3 years. In 2024, the company will deliver 2k Farizon Electric SuperVans.

The EV industry is heating up in the UAE: Anglo-Indian transport conglomerate Ashok Leyland expressed interest in assembling EVs at Ras Al Khaimah last September, and M Glory Holding Group announced plans to open a USD 408 bn EV manufacturing plant with the capacity to produce 55k EVs annually. EV company NWTN Motors partnered with Sultan Investments to establish an EV assembly base in Khalifa Industrial Zone in Abu Dhabi.

KSA has its eyes set on a similar path: Saudi Arabia’s first EV company, Ceer — a JV between the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group — secured a site for its USD 96 mn EV factory in the King Abdullah Economic Center last month, with plans to sell EVs in Saudi Arabia by 2025. The PIF also invested USD 1 bn in the US-based luxury EV manufacturer Lucid Motors, which will produce 155k vehicles annually by 2025 and 80% of Lucid’s EVs in Saudi Arabia by 2030.

Egypt wants to see a biodiversity fund: Egypt’s Environment Minister called for the establishment of a biodiversity fund at COP15, saying that the fund would provide developing countries with better access to finance and benefit sharing, according to a ministry statement yesterday.

What’s been happening at COP15? COP15 kicked off with an ambitious target to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030 under the tagline 30×30. This year will see the adoption of a new global biodiversity framework — the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework — the first since the Aichi Biodiversity Targets established at COP10 in Nagoya, Japan in 2010.

What is the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework? The summit aims to adopt an equitable global diversity framework to address nature loss, and set clear targets for “overexploitation, pollution, fragmentation and unsustainable agricultural practices,” and to establish financing for biodiversity and sustainable investments, according to The UN Environment Program.

Biodiversity funding and the lack of agreement on a global diversity framework stalled talks at COP15, the BBC reports. Delegates from almost 70 developing countries — mostly from Africa and Latin America — walked out of talks last week as their calls for a new biodiversity fund were unmet. The delegates claimed that existing funding sources fall short of supporting them to implement any agreement that will emerge from the conference.

These countries house some of the most biodiverse regions, including the Amazon rainforest, and “bear a higher burden” in protecting biodiversity, Bloomberg reports citing statements made by Brazilian candidates last week. An earlier proposal saw developed countries committing at least USD 100 bn annually to biodiversity until 2030.

Who funds biodiversity protection? The Global Environment Facility (GEF) — set up as a pilot program by the World Bank in 1991 — is the main funder of biodiversity protection, providing around USD 25 bn in grants to finance biodiversity since it was founded. The GEF receives most of its financial contributions from the EU, which has strongly resisted establishing alternatives.

The UK and the US have been criticized for their lack of commitment: The UK has pledged almost GBP 30 mn to help developing countries keep a third of the planet available for nature, in addition to GBP 5 mn to support biodiversity projects, Energy Live News writes. Critics, however, pointed out that it does not have a 30×30 target for its protected areas at home, the Guardian wrote last week. The US, on the other hand, did not join the convention, according to the Guardian. Although the US has created a special biodiversity envoy that is attending the talks as an observer, the US has not shown any signs of joining the treaty.

Carrefour operator Majid Al Futtaim and Standard Chartered Bank launched MENA’s first sustainable supply chain finance program, according to a statement. The program in its pilot phase will offer favorable financing terms to Carrefour suppliers for meeting ESG standards like using electric vehicles and less energy-consuming equipment.

UAE plots carbon sink plan for sequestration: The UAE will plant 100 mn mangroves as part of its Roadmap for National Carbon Sequestration, according to WAM. The project — carried out by the ministry in collaboration with the private sector and international NGOs — will increase the number of mangroves to 100 mn from 30 mn in a bid to create a carbon sink to sequester carbon.

Why mangroves? The coastal trees and shrubs can store “up to 10 times more carbon than forests” in their roots, branches and the sediment around them, according to a report by The Guardian on Colombia’s Cispatá conservation project last year.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

• Egypt is allocating 1.9k km for the development of several green hydrogen plants in the southern governorate of Minya, according to the vice president of Egypt’s New and Renewable Energy Agency. (Youm7)
• Germany’s KfW Bank’s Investment for Employment initiative is granting Creative Power Solutions EUR 2.7 mn to establish MENA’s first solar thermal collectors manufacturing facility in Egypt. (Zawya)
• Morocco will put forward MAD 23.6 mn (USD 2.2 mn) to fund sustainability projects in a bid to boost agricultural activities in the country’s oases and adapt to climate change. (Morocco World News)

A self-cleaning solution for solar panels? Egyptian scientists have created a self-cleaning nano coating to enhance solar panels’ efficiency by 30%, according to a paper (pdf) produced by Al Azhar University and published last week in Scientific Reports. The hydrophobic layer protects the panels by minimizing the buildup of dust on surfaces over time saving on cost, effort, and the water needed for cleaning.

For the science nerds: The coating is composed of ethanol and isopropanol in combination with silicon dioxide (SiO2) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).