TODAY: Acwa Power continues its Asian expansion + Saudi Aramco and Sabic Agri-Nutrients ship first commercial load of blue ammonia to South Korea
Good morning, wonderful people, and happy last day of November. We’re inching closer to the weekend, but Saudi Arabia has already crossed the proverbial finish line for shipping out the world’s first commercial load of blue ammonia, which is on its way to South Korea.
ALSO- Saudi’s Creer is one step closer to their new EV manufacturing factory, having landed the space to build it — and energy giant Acwa Power is continuing its Asian expansion with a 1 GW solar project in Bangladesh.
AND- Rolls-Royce has been making international headlines for its groundbreaking tests for hydrogen fuel to power aircraft jets.
It is, in other words, this morning’s edition is very KSA-heavy. We have chapter and verse on these stories and more in the news well, below.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- South Korea is wooing Tesla with “tailored” incentives for its EV gigafactory, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told Reuters. In a virtual tête-à-tête with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Yoon promised to minimize union-related “risks” in the country — a topic the Tesla boss feels strongly about. South Korea has a solid supply chain for EV manufacturing as well as the human resources and work culture to back it up, Bloomberg notes. Musk named South Korea as one of the top candidate locations for its EV gigafactory in a previous call with Yoon.
WATCH THIS SPACE- Lekela is has appetite for more renewable energy projects in MENA and Africa: Independent power producer Lekela is exploring projects in Morocco, Tunisia and Kenya, CEO Chris Antonopoulos told the Africa Report in an interview. Lekela is looking to expand its portfolio in Africa — with an eye to growing in Morocco, Tunisia and Kenya — in addition to its existing projects in South Africa, Senegal, Ghana and Egypt, Antonopoulos said, according to Morocco World News. Lekela is majority-owned by private equity giant Actis.
CORRECTION- This story was updated on 30 November 2022. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Lekela is owned by renewables player Infinity. Infinity and the Africa Finance Corporation have entered into a transaction with private equity firm Actis (which owns 60% of Lekela) and Irish wind / solar developer Mainstream Renewable Power (40%) to acquire 100% of Lekela. The transaction is in progress.
Amr Allam, co-CEO of Hassan Allam Holding is joining us for the Enterprise Climate X Forum, taking place at the Grand Egyptian Museum. Are you? We’re proud to announce that our friend Amr Allam is going to be speaking at the forum on why he thinks climate is the most compelling industry of our generation. He is joined on stage for that discussion by Mohamed Ismail Mansour, co-founder and CEO of Infinity (Amr and Mohamed are working on a ton of projects together) and Sherif El Kholy, partner and head of MENA at Actis (a long time investor in climate themes).
They’re not the only ones: Among the top execs, bankers, and development finance folks speaking at the conference are: Todd Wilcox, CEO and deputy chairman of HSBC Egypt; Tarek El Nahas, group head of international banking, Mashreq; Khalid Hamza, director and head of Egypt at European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); Simon Kitchen, head of strategy at EFG Hermes Research; Nader Abushadi, group treasurer at Dar Group; Karim Hussein, managing partner at Algebra Ventures; Aly El Tayeb, CEO and co-founder of ShiftEV; Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe; Khaled Naguib, CEO of Hydrogen Egypt, and Leslie Reed, Mission director for Egypt, USAID.
Topics and live interviews will include:
- What is green hydrogen, why is it important, and what signs will tell us that USD 85 bn in framework agreements are real?
- How CEOs across global emerging markets are dealing with climate change.
- What’s the difference between sustainability-linked and climate finance? How much do CEOs need to know about their supply chain?
- Meet the startup and VC in line to be Egypt’s first climate bn’aires.
For the full agenda please click here.
** 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 — including a reminder that the event takes place under Chatham House Rules. Only confirmed invitees who can present their personal QR codes will be able to gain admission to the GEM on event day.
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PSA- Sustainability scale-ups can now apply to e&’s Future Now initiative, the company said. Our friends at e& — formerly Etisalat Group — are looking for tech and digital solution scale-ups that are developing sustainable solutions to help them reduce energy consumption across their mobile network sites. Applicants will work with e& under a 12-week program and test their solutions with e&’s market base. The folks at e& say those they choose to work with will benefit from sales and marketing expertise, business exposure, coworking spaces, integration with the company’s digital platforms, and networking events. You can tap or click here to learn more.
CLIMATE DIPLOMACY- The UAE is eyeing renewables investments in Cameroon, WAM reports. UAE Foreign Trade Minister Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi led an Emirati delegation to the West African country to explore potential avenues for collaboration as Cameroon seeks to increase its renewable energy contribution to 25% of its energy mix by 2035. It is the third highest ranking African country in terms of hydropower generation capacity.
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YOU’RE READING ENTERPRISE CLIMATE, the essential MENA publication for senior execs who care about the world’s most important industry. We’re out Monday through Thursday at 4am Cairo / 5am Riyadh / 6am UAE.
Were you forwarded this email? Get your own subscription without charge here or reach out to us on climate@enterprisemea.com with comments, suggestions and story tips.
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THE WORLD CUP TODAY- It’s day 11 of the tournament, in which Group C and D teams are facing off again (all times CLT):
- Tunisia v France (5pm)
- Australia v Denmark (5pm)
- Poland v Argentina (9pm)
- Saudi Arabia v Mexico (9pm)
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.
Rwanda is hosting the World Circular Economy Forum from Tuesday, 6 December to 8 December 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.
UAE will host the Big 5 global construction impact summit next 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 be host to 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.