TODAY: UAE’s Amea Power spends USD 25 mn on solar expansion + A first look at Climate X speakers list
Good morning, ladies and gents, and welcome to a relatively slow start to the workweek as everyone’s attention seems to be devoted to the World Cup.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- UAE’s Amea Power is adding 20 MW of capacity to its solar project in Togo to reach 70 MW. After the completion of the expansion, the Mohammed bin Zayed solar power plant in Togo will be the largest in West Africa. Closer to home, aluminum conglomerate Emirates Global Aluminium has purchased clean energy certificates for 1.1 mn MWh of electricity in a bid to certify production of around 80k tons of its solar-powered aluminum.
^^We have more on these stories and others in the news well, below.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- Europe’s summer heatwave may have caused 20k deaths: Western Europe saw some 20k “excess” deaths due to soaring summer temperatures that would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, according to data (pdf) released on Thursday by the World Weather Attribution group. The analysis looked at the difference between the number of deaths seen over the summer and those expected based on historical trends, with covid-19 deaths excluded. These included over 10k in France, over 4.6k in Spain, some 4.5k in Germany, and over 3k in England and Wales. Summer 2022 was the hottest summer on record, according to the EU’s Copernicus climate change service. The story has been picked up by Reuters, Bloomberg, and The Guardian.
Some of the biggest names in Egypt’s climate industry are appearing at our inaugural Enterprise Climate X Forum, which takes place on Tuesday, 6 December at the Grand Egyptian Museum. Are you?
Hydrogen: What is it, what does a “hydrogen economy” look like and how will we know it’s becoming real? Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of industry association Hydrogen Europe, is flying in to help us unpack it.
Three industry leaders will talk about climate as the biggest (and most important) business opportunity of our generation: Mohamed Mansour is co-founder and CEO of Infinity. Amr Allam is co-CEO of Hassan Allam Holding. Jointly and seprately, they’re building and operating GW worth of renewable energy projects, charging stations, desalination, wastewater, and more. They’ll be joined on stage by Sherif El Kholy, partner and head of MENA at private equity giant Actis, who has a passion for investing in green businesses — and for helping conventional businesses put ESG at the core of what they do.
How are we going to pay for it all? Todd Wilcox, CEO and deputy chairman of HSBC Egypt; Tarek El Nahas, group head of international banking at Mashreq; Khaled Hamza, director and head of Egypt at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); and Nader Abushadi, group treasurer at Dar Group, will help us get our heads around topics including green, sustainability-linked, blended, and concessional finance, as well as how much you need to know about your supply chain.
We’ll also be meeting Shift EV’s Aly El Tayeb and Algebra’s Karim Hussein, the guys who want to be Egypt’s first climate bn’aires. They’ll be talking with USAID Egypt Mission Director Leslie Reed as well as EFG Hermes Head of Strategy Simon Kitchen, who’s flying in from London to talk with us about how business leaders across frontier and emerging markets are getting their heads around climate.
** Have you confirmed your attendance? We’ll be sending you on Sunday, 4 December the QR code you’ll need to gain admission to the Grand Egyptian Museum, along with a Google Maps link and some other pointers.
Tap or click here for the full agenda.
HAPPENING TODAY-
The South Africa Green Hydrogen Summit is kicking off today and will run through Thursday in Cape Town. Hosted by Infrastructure South Africa, the event will showcase the country’s potential as an investment destination. Egypt, Mauritania, and Morocco — all members of the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance — will be attending the summit to present their national agendas for green hydrogen projects.
THE WORLD CUP TODAY- It’s day nine of the tournament, and these are the Group G and H teams facing off (all times CLT):
- Cameroon v Serbia (12pm)
- South Korea v Ghana (3pm)
- Brazil v Switzerland (6pm)
- Portugal v Uruguay (9pm)
WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Egypt will announce its low-carbon hydrogen strategy by the end of the year, according to a cabinet statement. The strategy was drafted in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and forecasts Egypt’s green hydrogen market will grow sevenfold by 2025 — contributing USD 10-18 bn to its GDP. This will enable Egypt to produce 8% of the world’s green hydrogen, according to Electricity and Renewable Energy Minister Mohamed Shaker.
WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Qatari investments in London at risk over advertising squabble: Qatar is reconsidering GBP 10 bn worth of investments — including renewable energy — in London after the British capital’s transport authority banned the country’s advertisements on trains over alleged abuse of migrant workers and LGBTQ rights, the Financial Times reports. Qatar pledged to invest GBP 10 bn over five years into various sectors in London back in May and is now reconsidering diverting the funds to other cities in the UK.
WATCH THIS SPACE #3- H2 Industries’ waste-to-hydro plans in Egypt moving forward: US-based H2 Industries is reportedly in discussions with offtakers for its planned USD 3 bn waste-to-hydrogen facility in Egypt, Zawya quoted CEO Michael Stusch as saying. The plant could produce 300k tons of hydrogen annually, and H2 is also eyeing a USD 1.4 bn waste-to-hydrogen facility in Oman.
WORTH READING- A recap to ease our eco-anxiety: Euronews compiled an exhaustive list of positive climate-related events and news in 2022 to comfort us when “climate doom” sets in. A couple of highlights? New research suggests that plants can teach their offspring how to be more climate resilient by reading their DNA sequence differently and a rare bird — the black-naped pheasant pigeon — thought to be extinct for 140 years popped back up in Papua New Guinea.
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THE DANGER ZONE- Will searing heat irrevocably change our ability to undertake massive construction projects in MENA? The days of large-scale construction in the Gulf may be numbered due to climate change-driven extreme heat, Time Magazine wrote last week. Gulf countries are poised to see up to 250 “dangerous heat” days a year by 2050, while severe heat stress will also be endemic within parts of Africa and South Asia by 2100, according to a recent study cited by Time. Though countries like Qatar are investing in tech to reduce the heat danger to outdoor construction workers — including clothing that can keep them cool — construction as we know it could be impossible to sustain under these conditions, the magazine notes.
CLIMATE DIPLOMACY- Pakistan is open for investment: Pakistan is stumping for investment to advance its 10 GW solar power scheme and slash its USD 27 bn energy import bills, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, according to the Nation. The country is working on creating a cooperative environment to facilitate investments with less bureaucratic obstacles, Sharif said, name-checking Turkey — which signed a USD 5 bn MoU with the country to expand bilateral trade by 2025 — but also Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE as potential investors.
CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-
Oman will host a two-day green hydrogen summit next Monday, 5 December at Oman’s Convention and Exhibition Center in Muscat. The summit will discuss all aspects of the hydrogen value chain including production, transportation, and storage challenges.
UAE will host the Big 5 global construction impact summit on Wednesday, 7 December at the Dubai World Trade Center, bringing more than 2k exhibitors from 60 countries, as well as regional and global construction industry leaders together to discuss ways to meet local and global net zero and waste reduction targets.
FURTHER DOWN THE LINE- Dubai will host the food and sustainability Middle East challenge on 2 March, 2023. The Rome-based European Institute of Innovation for Sustainability is partnering with SDG Global to bring a six-month long, online interactive course to align the region’s food industry with ESG sustainability and development targets. You can register interest in the for-pay course here.
Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.