Neom unveils its sustainable food company Topian and Royal Air Maroc flies first carbon neutral flight

KSA’s Neom has launched its own food company — dubbed Topian — in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, according to a statement. Topian will focus on climate-resistant agriculture, regenerative aquaculture, and sustainable food supply. Topian will collaborate on research and development initiatives through several partnerships to expand on innovative and sustainable approaches to food production, the statement notes.

Neom invested in food sustainability earlier this year:Neom entered into a partnership in November with US-based food tech company BlueNalu on sustainable and secure food ecosystems by promoting cell-cultivated seafood.

AVIATION-

Royal Air Maroc flies its first carbon neutral flight in Africa: Morocco's flag carrier Royal Air Maroc (RAM) and its national fuel distributor Afriquia SMDC launched the first net zero emission intra-African flight using sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) on Saturday, MAP reports. The airline’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was powered by 40% SAF and carried 302 passengers from Mohammed V Airport in Casablanca to Blaise Diagne Airport in Dakar. The flight used almost 9 tons of SAF and slashed around 23 tons of CO2 emissions.

REMEMBER- RAM joined an agreement to buy mns of gallons of SAF: Airline alliance Oneworld members, including RAM, signed an MoU with US renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company Gevo in 2022 to buy up to 200 mn gallons of Gevo’s SAF over the next five years.

AGRICULTURE-

Egypt partners with the World Bank to enhance climate-smart agriculture: Egypt's Ministry of International Cooperation is collaborating with the World Bank to incentivize innovation in climate-smart agriculture, according to a statement. The partnership — which seeks to introduce tailored digital applications for Egypt's agricultural sector — is part of Egypt’s Climate Resilient Agri-Food Transformation (CRAFT) project under the Nexus of Water, Food, and Energy (NWFE) program.

The details: The initiative aims to expand on the prior success of EgCITE, a project funded by the Korea Green Growth Trust Fund (KGGTF) that focuses on localizing international technologies and identifying the best practices to boost climate-smart agriculture in Egypt. Sustainable infrastructure and the efficient use of resources are key for green growth and will be achieved through the partnership with the World Bank and KGGTF, Egypt’s International Cooperation Minister Rania Al Mashat said.

REMEMBER- The World Bank aims to increase its climate finance target to USD 40 bn by 2025: The World Bank has set a target to increase its climate financing capacity to USD 40 bn by 2025 — around USD 9 bn more than what was last recorded by the bank.The World Bank recently co-financed four Egyptian projects in the renewables, green hydrogen, environmental restoration, and livestock production sectors under the Global Environment Facility (GEF).