TODAY: Saudi to build direct air capture plant + Masdar wants to be part of PACE
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.
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.
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.