Good morning, wonderful people. We have a few climate stories making ripples in the region as we slide into the weekend.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORIES- The Tunisian government and the World Bank have signed a EUR 113.6 mn loan agreement to back the country’s wastewater projects and Saudi Aramco’s venture subsidiary Aramco Ventures has invested an undisclosed sum in the latest financing round by British sustainable fuels startup OXCCU.

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

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- Arctic summers could have no ice as early as the 2030s under high emission scenarios, decades sooner than scientists predicted, according to research published in Nature Communications. Under previously held best case warming scenarios by the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Arctic was projected to see Septembers without sea ice as soon as 2050. The new research, however, indicates that even under lower-emissions predictions, the same outcome is inevitable between 2030-2040. “It has become too late to save the Arctic summer sea ice,” study author from the University of Hamburg Dirk Notz said, adding that “there’s nothing really we can do about this complete loss anymore, because we’ve been waiting for too long.”

The story grabbed headlines in the international press: Bloomberg | The Guardian | AFP | CNN | New York Times | Washington Post

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We have tons more in the pipeline — come help us build new publications. We offer the chance to work in a fast-paced newsroom on a broad range of topics and in a variety of formats. Our goal is simple: To create value for our growing community of >250k daily readers by telling stories that matter.

Journalists looking to explore business, finance and economic stories are welcome. So are recent journalism school graduates.

That said, we're looking for gifted story-tellers from all walks of life and across all professions, as long as they show a keen interest in learning to write about the stories, topics, businesses, and figures moving markets. Egyptian and foreign nationals alike are welcome to apply. So are job-switchers: If you’re an equities analyst tired of the rat race, we’re a great place to come work.

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WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Egypt-KSA interconnection project testing will commence: Japan’s Hitachi ABB Power Grids and the Saudi Electricity Company will begin testing the transformer stations for its 3 GW electricity linkup between Saudi Arabia and Egypt in July, Asharq Business reports, citing sources it says have knowledge of the matter. The trial operations for the USD 1.8 bn Egypt-Saudi electricity interconnection are set to begin in May 2025, with an official operational launch set for later in the same year.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- A possible CBD green bond issuance this week? The Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) said a decision might be made this week on its debut green bond issuance, it said in a disclosure (pdf) to the DFM yesterday. The bank says it has not decided on whether it will or will not proceed with any public market debt issuance at this stage, but confirmed it has hired banks to “evaluate the potential issuance of a senior unsecured green bond.” The clarification was released the same day Reuters reported the bank plans to raise USD 500 mn through its inaugural sale of five-year green bonds at an initial price guidance of around 175 basis points over US Treasuries, citing a document it has seen.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- EU renewables talks set to resume soon: The European Commission is still in negotiations with member states to reach an agreement on scaling up renewable energy by 2030, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simon told Bloomberg yesterday. EU policymakers decided to postpone a vote on raising the share of renewables after France opposed the law on grounds that it wanted more clarity on how nuclear power would be treated. The French plan to reopen the draft legislation has received criticism from several member countries, including Spain, which described the move as a “very dangerous exercise.” The bloc’s energy ministers are set to meet in Luxembourg on 19 June to discuss the deadlock if not solved before then, Bloomberg writes.

One reason France is balking? France says it needs to maintain its current nuclear capacity amid a forecasted surge in power demand by 2035, Reuters reports, citing a report by grid operator RTE. Electricity use is expected to rise by 10 TWh per year on average over the next decade to between 580 and 640 TWh in 2035 on the back of a growing demand for electric vehicle and battery plants. The report estimates an average of 350 TWh of nuclear power availability per year by 2035, yet stresses the need to extend the lifespan of the country's other reactors to 60 years to accommodate the surge in energy demand over the decade.

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WATCH THIS SPACE #4- We’ll have to pay more to fly green: A transition to net zero would mean higher air fares for passengers for decades, The Telegraph reports, citing comments by IATA Director General Willie Walsh. “People have asked me, what’s this going to mean for fares? It will mean higher fares. Because sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is more expensive than traditional jet kerosene,” Walsh says. Passengers have already been grappling with double-digit percentage rises in fares since last year due to inflationary pressures, but Walsh warns that increases even if inflation falls due to the added cost of airlines switching to SAF.

REMEMBER- The EU agreed in April to set binding targets for European aviation to boost its use of SAF in a bid to decarbonize the industry. The proposal aims to increase the use of SAF by ensuring fuel suppliers have 2% of the fuel accessible at EU airports as SAF in 2025, rising to 6% in 2030, 20% in 2035 and 70% in 2050. The EU carbon market is set to provide about EUR 2 bn to help airlines switch to SAF. Some 1.2% of fuels must also be synthetic fuels from 2030, rising to 35% in 2050. Aviation is a difficult sector to decarbonize and net zero aircrafts are not expected for another 10 years.

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DATA POINT #1- Most money invested in passively managed mutual funds that track ESG indices fail to have an impact in the fight against climate change, Bloomberg reported this week, citing a study. Researchers divided environmental, social, and governance indicators into three categories: Broad, light green, and dark green. The dark green indices refer to “genuinely sustainable assets,” while the other, passively run indices have little impact on sustainability. According to the findings, only 5% of an estimated USD 190 bn of assets under management followed the dark green indices.

DATA POINT #2- Over half of Africa’s 375 GW renewables portfolio is in North Africa, with Egypt and Morocco leading the pack, an outlook report (pdf) by Africa Energy Chamber finds. Wind energy has the highest announced renewable capacity on the continent, currently standing at 134 GW, while solar came in close second with 120 GW and green hydrogen third at 112 GW. Egypt and Morocco represent almost half of the announced wind capacity, around 42% of solar capacity and 40% of green hydrogen.

And it will be a bit of a rollercoaster when green hydrogen picks up: Africa’s share of solar and wind in renewable capacity is expected to increase until 2025 before hydrogen begins to gain traction, the report finds. Solar and wind contribute 80% of green energy capacity in the continent today, and the share is expected to increase to 85% by 2025, before falling five percentage points in the later half of the decade and then down to 75% between 2031-2035 as green hydrogen capacities begin to pick up. Over 75% of Africa’s announced renewable capacity is still in the concept stage with only 7% currently in operation, the report adds.

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THE DANGER ZONE- CCS is no easy way out: Excessive reliance on carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) could lead to the world missing the 1.5global warming target, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Hoesung Lee told The Guardian this week. Lee warned countries against overuse, adding it was likely that global temperatures would surpass 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, but could then be pushed to return to below 1.5°C by the end of the century. “The jargon for that is the overshoot,” he said. “Carbon dioxide removal methods will be much in demand if that overshoot indeed occurs,” Lee added.

Overshoot = increasing warming: “But there will be a cost to doing that. There’s no free lunch. And that cost includes that the longer the period of overshoot, there will be additional global warming, and there will be consequences of increased warming. There is also the possibility of positive feedback from that additional warming, creating more losses and damages during the overshoot period,” he said. “So one wishes to avoid such an overshoot scenario.”

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Saudi Arabia will host the Arab-Chinese Business Conference next Sunday, 11 June and Monday, 12 June in Riyadh. The conference will bring together CEOs, business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs from the Middle East and China to collaborate on new trade and investment initiatives in different sectors, including renewables and minerals. A panel discussion titled Clean Energy and Renewables – Pathways to Emissions Reduction is scheduled on the first day, according to the program (pdf). The second day will focus on the localization of renewable energy and on value chain opportunities in mining.

The UAE will host The Arab Green Summit on Tuesday, 13 June to Wednesday, 14 June in Dubai. The two-day summit will bring together industry players and experts for conversations on climate change and sustainability and solutions for concurrent climate-related issues in the region. Key themes to be addressed during the summit include industry decarbonization, renewable and clean energy potential and implementation, sustainable building and construction and others.

Morocco will host the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Africa on Tuesday, 13 June to Wednesday, 14 June in Marrakech. The event will bring together stakeholders from the private and public sector to discuss the world’s most pressing topics and assess potential solutions. Those include the impact of a decelerating global economy, spiking food and energy prices, supply-chain shocks and risks of distress among sovereign borrowers.

France will host The Summit for a New Global Financial Pact on Thursday, 22 June to Friday, 23 June in Paris. The two-day summit will bring together heads of states and heads of multilateral development banks, international organizations, the private sector and international NGOs to shape a new finance “toolbox” and “pave the way towards a more balanced financial partnership between the north and south.” It will also see new agreements in a bid to relieve debt distress and allow countries to access additional financing to invest in sustainable development and slash emissions.

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