Good morning, friends and welcome to the busiest start to the week we’ve seen this year. We have a bumper issue to dive into covering every climate angle under the sun. Let’s go.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- KSA’s Badeel and Acwa Power signed power purchase agreements with the Saudi Power Procurement Company to develop and operate three solar energy projects worth some USD 3 bn with a 4.5 GW cumulative generation capacity.

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

HAPPENING TODAY-

The Power and Energy Conference is kicking off in Muscat, Oman today and running until Thursday. The event will bring together local and global industry leaders to discuss global energy market policy updates, future demand and growth projections in the sector, integration and power grid obstacles, and growth potential associated with renewables and EV deployments.

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) will kick off its annual meeting ofthe board of governors in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt today which will run until Friday. The city will also host the Meetings of the Board of Governors of the African Development Fund during the same period. This year’s event, held under the theme Mobilizing Private Sector Financing for Climate and Green Growth in Africa, aims to provide a framework for spurring private financing domestically and globally and utilizing natural capital to help bridge the climate financing gap and promote green growth transition in Africa.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- The G7’s climate-focused announcements during their three-day summit in Hiroshima snagged headlines over the weekend. The group — while reaffirming its “unwavering support to the Paris Agreement” and saying it would work on adopting trade policies aimed at upping global net-zero investments — did not explicitly commit to its 2022 pledge of fully decarbonizing its power sectors by 2035. We have all the details in the news well, below.

The story made the rounds in the international press over the weekend: Reuters | Financial Times | The New York Times | Associated Press.

WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Egypt’s green hydrogen projects could be moving towards implementation: The government plans to sign two agreements to establish green hydrogen projects by the end of June, a source in the Electricity Ministry told Enterprise Climate, confirming a report by Al Borsa on Saturday on the planned agreements. The agreements are set to be signed with two unnamed consortiums that have previously signed MoUs on planned green hydrogen projects in the country. Our source said recent incentives approved by the government for the green hydrogen industry have stimulated involved firms to address the government to activate signed MoUs to begin implementing the planned projects. The source expects two to three others agreements activating previous MoUs for green hydrogen production to also be signed before the end of the year.

REMEMBER- The Egyptian government signed several framework agreements during COP27 with foreign companies to construct several green hydrogen and ammonia facilities in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. The facilities would cost a combined USD 83 bn and would collectively produce up to 7.6 mn tons of green ammonia and 2.7 mn tons of hydrogen a year when fully operational.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- France is still holding out for nuclear power: France is currently in talks with the EU’s presidency to reach an agreement over the stalled Renewable Energy Directive — the common framework for the development of energy from renewable sources in the bloc — by the end of June, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing a source with knowledge of the matter. The legislation has faced snags after France opposed the law on grounds that it wanted more clarity on how nuclear power would be treated. France is now negotiating with Sweden — which holds the six-month rotating Council presidency — the European Commission, and other member states to reach an agreement, the source said. They will have until the end of June to settle differences and seal an agreement under the current presidency.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- Engie aims for big hydrogen projects in the Gulf: French energy group Engie is seeking new hydrogen projects in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Oman as it seeks to reach 4 GW of hydrogen capacity globally by 2030, Stephan Gobert, the group’s senior VP of hydrogen for Asia, the Middle East, and Africa told The National last week. “The Middle East region and specifically the GCC is offering great potential … that's why we established the strategic alliance with Masdar and are studying a project at the moment in Ruwais for Fertiglobe,” he said, without providing further details on the proposed project. “We hope to close the financial decision by the end of this year,” he added.

We knew something of the sort was in the works: Gobert’s statements come nearly a weekafter Fertiglobe CEO Ahmed El Hoshy said that a consortium of Fertiglobe, UAE renewables player Masdar, and Engie was considering a 100-200 MW green hydrogen project in Abu Dhabi. The potential cooperation comes a year after the three renewables players signed an agreement to study co-developing a “globally cost-competitive” 200 MW green hydrogen facility in the UAE to back the production of green ammonia. They plan to have the facility operational in 2025, with Fertiglobe serving as the sole long term off-taker.

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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.

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