TODAY: OCI Global completes its first green methanol refueling operation in Egypt
Good morning, nice people. We have a hefty issue this morning to kick off the week with lots of climate industry updates from across the region. Let’s jump in.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- Dutch-based chemical producer OCI Global completed a six-hour operation refueling the world’s first green-methanol-powered container ship with 500 tons of the green fuel in Egypt’s East Port Said.
^^ We have more details on this story and much more in the news well, below.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- Climate change-linked wildfires still spreading everywhere: A wildfire on Spain’s Tenerife island that forced mass evacuations remained uncontrollable yesterday despite improved weather conditions overnight. The fire was now impacting ten towns in the island located at the Canary Islands, although 11 have been evacuated as a precaution in what officials have described as the worst in Tenerife in decades. It now covers an area of over 8k hectares with a perimeter of 70 km, up from 5k hectares and a perimeter of 50km a day earlier. Some 12k residents have been evacuated, according to regional authorities. Canary Islands regional President Fernando Clavijo said authorities have confirmed that the wildfire was started deliberately, but did not provide further details.
ALSO- Evacuations are still ongoing as wildfires rage in Canada’s western province of British Columbia, Reuters reports. Over 35k residents were under an evacuation order with 30k under an evacuation alert. Record high temperatures this year on the back of worsening climate change have contributed to unusual raging and prolonging wildfires in Europe and elsewhere, including a deadly wildfire on Hawaii’s Maui island that killed over 110 people earlier this month.
The severe blazes is getting ink from the international press over the weekend: Reuters | Bloomberg | The Associated Press | The Washington Post | The Guardian
OVER IN COPLAND- More climate finance for Africa is the only way to go: COP28 President-Designate Sultan Al Jaber stressed the necessity of scaling up financing to African nations to help them meet climate goals, Wam reported on Thursday. Speaking at the Ethiopian-hosted African Ministerial Conference of the Environment, Al Jaber said that Africa remains among the regions most impacted by climate change. "From Pakistan to Hawaii, we have seen too many lives and livelihoods devastated. Yet, Africa has been facing extreme climate conditions with greater impacts for longer than most,” he said.
Africa faces a “chronic” lack of funding: Al Jaber also highlighted the “chronic lack of available, accessible and affordable climate finance” in the continent, describing it as a significant obstacle hindering progress on climate action in Africa. "Currently, barely one tenth of global climate finance finds its way to Africa. According to the African Development Bank, almost USD 250 bn annually is needed to meet Africa’s NDC commitments through 2030. Yet, this continent of 54 countries that contributes less than 5% of global emissions, receives less than USD 30 bn a year. And private finance flows to Africa are a fraction of what is disbursed to the rest of the world. These are the realities. They need to be fixed. And they need to be fixed now,” he said.
WATCH THIS SPACE #1- EBRD and Egypt work on improving regulation for private sector power producers: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is advising the Egyptian Electric Utility and Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency (Egyptera) on opening the local electricity market to the private sector, according to a statement released on Thursday. Funded by a grant, the multilateral lender is working with Egyptera to improve its regulatory framework to promote a more competitive market and increase the private sector’s role in producing, distributing and selling power, it said.
Why this matters: Private-sector players have long been asking for the ability to use Egypt’s electricity grid to transmit electricity to their end clients by “wheeling” — to effectively “rent” the state’s grid: Use it, for a fee, to deliver green electricity directly to their end clients. Developers operating solar and wind facilities currently generate electricity and sell it to the state under a long-term offtake agreement. Read more about this here and here.
WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Masdar eyeing a solar expansion in Iraq: UAE renewables giant Masdar is planning to establish at least four solar energy plants in Iraq’s Maysan, Dhi Qar, Anbar, and Kirkuk governorates, Iraqi News reported following a meeting between Iraq’s Electricity Minister Ziyad Ali Fadel and a Masdar delegation last week. The generation capacities of the planned solar farms was not disclosed, nor was the expected investment ticket for the projects. Iraq has a target to generate 5 GW of solar power in 2023 and signed solar power agreements over the past two years with several companies, lining up a total generation capacity of 7.5 GW.
ALSO– Masdar has big EU expansion plans: The company plans to deploy up to 5 GW in wind energy capacity and battery storage volume by 2030 through its newly acquired renewables and BESS arm Masdar Arlington, the company’s CEO Matthew Clare said in an interview with Energy Voice last week. Masdar has several transactions at an “advanced stage” totalling 5 GW for offshore wind energy projects, and plans to add 3-5 GW in battery storage capacity over the next five to seven years. Masdar acquired UK energy storage firm Arlington Energy in January, and later in March committed to investing GBP 1 bn to develop UK battery energy storage system (BESS) tech. The acquisition falls under Masdar’s target to increase its BESS and renewables foothold in Europe.
WATCH THIS SPACE #3- Ewec’s 3Q clean energy certificates auction is open: The Emirates Water and Electricity Company (Ewec) has opened registration for its 3Q clean energy certificates (CEC) auction, Wam reported on Thursday. CECs are tradeable digital certificates that verify the sources of consumed electricity to ensure reliance on clean energy. The certificates are in units of 1 MWh each, and are currently the only mechanism in Abu Dhabi guaranteeing clean energy utilization.
The last auction held a record: Ewec made its biggest single sale of CECs to UAE’s digital infrastructure developer Two Zero last May, selling 7.3 mn MWh of clean energy. The price of the purchase agreement was not disclosed.
NON-CLIMATE REGIONAL HEADLINES OVER THE WEEKEND:
- KSA: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Jeddah as diplomatic relations between the countries improve. (Asharq Al Awsat)
- Egypt + UAE: Egypt is expected to start buying UAE-financed imported wheat in January after parliamentary approval is secured in November. (Al Bayan | Akhbar Al Youm)
The Enterprise Finance Forum is taking place on 18-19 September at the St. Regis Hotel in Cairo. This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings that allow senior members of our community to openly and frankly discuss critical issues in key sectors of the economy.
This is our first two-day event, which should give us plenty of time to dive into the nitty gritty of this industry we love. Our panels will see CEOs, bankers, investors and founders gather to discuss the future and trends shaping banking, finance, fintech and NBFS.
Our full agenda will be out at month’s end. Among the topics we’ll be discussing:
- Looking into the crystal ball: Top industry CEOs will join us on stage to answer tough questions on where we are as an industry, the forces that will shape all of our businesses going forward, and their views on dealflow in the year ahead.
- Surviving nuclear winter: We discuss how private equity and venture capital players are tackling challenges including fundraising and deployment in an environment in which it’s awfully difficult to price your local asset in USD terms.
- The robots are coming: We explore what the coming AI and big data means for the industry in our part of the world and what can bankers, NBFI, and fintech players do to capitalize on them.
- What do you do when nobody wants to be a banker — and when those who are already (investment or commercial) bankers are either (a) dreaming of doing their own startup or (b) moving to Dubai (or, increasingly, Riyadh)? We go deep into the weeds with industry leaders on how they’re building talent for tomorrow.
- NBFIs are a bubble. Prove me wrong: We chart the explosive rise of NBFIs and ask whether the industry is ready for a wave of consolidation. We’ll dive into whether consumer finance is starting to mature as a segment — and ask which sector is next.
- Handicapping the winners and losers in fintech in 2024: We dive deep into which categories are getting traction, where the untapped opportunities are, what business they would start today if they could, and what we can expect of the sector in the year ahead.
- What’s a bank, anyway? Wherein we talk challenger and neobanks with the players looking to shake up the brick-and-mortar industry.
** NEW: MORE NETWORKING TIME- Our agenda includes expanded networking time, including an expanded coffee break and a post-event networking room for you to interact with your peers and speak one-on-one with the team at Enterprise.
STAY TUNED for more detail about our exciting agenda in the weeks to come.
TAP OR CLICK HERE if you want to express interest in attending. We’ll be sending out the first batch of invitations soon.
Do you want to become a commercial partner? Ping a note to Moustafa Taalab, our head of commercial.
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MISSED OUR PREVIOUS FORUMS? The Enterprise Podcast has you covered: The Enterprise Podcast’s forum series has been bringing you audio recordings of what was said on stage at the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum and Enterprise Climate Forum.
WANT TO LISTEN? Head to: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast | Anghami | Omny.
IN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE- In our second panel from the Enterprise Climate Forum, We dive deep into what the business leaders in the climate industry in Egypt and the region have to say about how the private sector is adopting greentech, where they see the opportunities and what they’d like policymakers to do to encourage further participation. We were joined by Amr Allam, co-CEO of Hassan Allam Holding, Mohamed Ismail Mansour, CEO and co-founder of Infinity, and Sherif El Kholy, longtime partner and head of MENA private equity at Actis.
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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-
The Dominican Republic will host the COP27 Transitional Committee from Tuesday, 29 August to Friday, 1 September. The meeting aims to establish institutional arrangements, modalities, governance structures, and terms of reference for the landmark Loss and Damage Fund. It also wants to expand sources for climate funding under the program.
Saudi Arabia will host the Sustainable Maritime Industry Conference from Monday, 4 September to Wednesday, 6 September in Jeddah. Organized by KSA’s Transport and Logistic Services Ministry, the event will feature over 50 speakers to spotlight sustainability, new technologies, and digitization efforts in the maritime industry. Speakers will include International Maritime Organization Secretary General Kitack Lim and World Ocean Council CEO Paul Holthus.
Kenya will host the Africa Climate Summit from Monday, 4 September to Wednesday, 6 September in Nairobi. The event will bring together government leaders and investors to share pathways and solutions to upping Africa’s climate resilience. The summit will serve as a platform to inform, frame, and influence commitments, pledges, and outcomes, ultimately leading to the development of the Nairobi Declaration on Climatic Change.
India will host the G20 Heads of State and Government Summit from Saturday, 9 September to Sunday, 10 September in New Delhi. A G20 Leaders’ Declaration will be adopted at the conclusion of the summit, stating commitment towards priorities discussed and agreed upon during previous ministerial and working group meetings through the year, the organizers note. The last meeting of G20 energy ministers in July failed to reach consensus on a fossil fuel phasedown as several major producing nations, led by Saudi Arabia, blocked the move. Among other expected announcements, the Global Biofuels Alliance is scheduled to be launched at the summit.
Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.