Good morning, wonderful people. After the deluge of news yesterday, we have a brisk read for you this morning with some key updates on projects happening in the region.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- KSA’s Neom Green Hydrogen Company has achieved financial close with 23 local, regional and international banks and financial institutions for its USD 8.4 bn green hydrogen facility.

^^ We have the details on this story and more in the news well, below.

HAPPENING TODAY- The Energy Storage Forum is kicking off today in Dubai and will run until Thursday. The theme for this year's forum is “the current transition towards clean energy sources in the GCC countries leading up to COP28,” and will see discussions on trends, policies, and technologies related to renewable energy, hydrogen, and battery storage, Wam reports. The event will bring together regional industry leaders and researchers as well as officials from the GCC’s electricity and water authorities.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- Seven US states reach historic consensus on water cuts to prevent the Colorado River from drying up: US states Arizona, Nevada, and California — all of which source water supplies from the drought-stricken Colorado River — have reached a landmark agreement with the Biden Administration to voluntarily push down their water consumption from the lower Colorado Basin in exchange for USD 1.2 bn in federal funding. The agreement will see the states slash water consumption by 13% — some 3.7 bn cubic meters — through to 2026. Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming, which also rely on the waterway, agreed to the plan. The agreement, which comes after months of negotiations to secure the water reservoirs of the river on which 40 mn people are dependant, will temporarily stave off the prospect of the Biden Administration imposing unilateral cuts for Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, California, Nevada, and Arizona after the river’s two main reservoirs — Lakes Mead and Powell — dropped to alarming lows last summer.

The story got widespread coverage in the international press yesterday: Washington Post | Reuters | Associated Press | CNN | CNBC | The Guardian | France 24.

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WATCH THIS SPACE #1- UK + GCC to continue talks on potential trade agreement that includes renewables: The UK’s Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch will be in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE this week as part of a five-day tour where she will discuss a potential trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Reuters reported. “The GCC represents an enormous opportunity for UK firms, whether it's selling brilliant British food and drink products into new markets or offering new consumers for our flourishing digital trade and renewable energy sectors,” Badenoch said before her visit. This will be the fourth round of negotiations on the trade agreement between the UK and the GCC, which kicked off last year.

REMEMBER- The UK has some partnerships with the GCC: Oman’s state-owned green hydrogen company Hydrom signed binding term sheet agreements with companies from the UK. Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) — a subsidiary of Saudi solar PV developer Abdul Latif Jameel Energy and Environmental Services — opened its first office in the UK in March. Emirati waste management company Bee’ah signed an MoU with UK-based waste-to-energy focused tech company Chinook Sciences in January, and Masdar acquired UK-based battery energy storage system (BESS) outfit Arlington Energy last October.

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WATCH THIS SPACE #2- France’s Alstom to roll out hydrogen-powered train in KSA: French rail giant Alstom is looking to bring its hydrogen-powered Coradia iLint train to Saudi Arabia before the end of 2023, the company’s Managing Director for the GCC Tamer Salama told Zawya. The financials and timeline for the train’s debut have not been disclosed. The increase in hydrogen projects in the region could also see the company deploy more of its hydrogen trains in neighboring countries, Salama added. “There is a green hydrogen project underway in the UAE and another in Neom. Oman and Qatar are also exploring hydrogen projects, so it will likely be available in most countries very soon,” he said. The Coradia can cover upwards of 1k kilometers without refueling, Alstom notes. Given the train’s commercial success in Germany since its introduction in 2018, Alstom will kick off operations for its hydrogen trains in Italy, France, and Denmark soon, Salama says.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- EU Parliament puts the brakes on renewables vote: EU policymakers have decided to postpone a vote on raising the share of renewables in the EU’s energy mix from the current 32% to 42.5% by 2030 to June, Reuters reports, citing an internal email. The final vote was set to take place in July, but could now be pushed to September. The vote delay comes after objections from France over the law discriminating against hydrogen produced from nuclear energy. If signed, the agreement will leave room for EU member states to expand their individual renewables capacity to 45%.

REMEMBER- The 27 EU members signed the provisional agreement in April, which also includes a breakdown of the targets for different sectors, such as 29% renewables for the transport sector and 42% for the industrial sector by 2030.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Germany will host the second meeting of the COP27 Transitional Committee from Thursday, 25 May to Saturday, 27 May in Bonn. The meeting will build on the loss and damage fund established during COP27 with the aim of establishing institutional mechanisms and governance structures for financing, and will bring together a host of international financial institutions to discuss pathways to increasing funding capacity for climate vulnerable countries.

The UAE will host the Electric Vehicle Innovation Summit from Monday, 29 May to Wednesday, 31 May in Abu Dhabi. The conference will bring together state representatives, industry players from the EV sector, as well as engineers and researchers to discuss policy trends and tech innovations in the industry and provide attendees with networking opportunities across value chains.

Qatar will host the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) Forum from Monday, 29 May to Thursday, 31 May in Lusail City. The event aims to spotlight MENA’s CCUS regulations and policies, map out paths and business models that would bring down CCUS project costs, promote regional and international cooperation to advance the international carbon capture sector, and discuss the role CCUS will play in helping Gulf countries meet their net zero targets.

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