Good morning, ladies and gents. It’s a very busy start to the week as we gear up for COP28’s kick off on Thursday. We have a smattering of updates all across the climate sector from every corner of the region. Let’s jump right in.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY-Adnoc has kicked off operations on the region’s first high-speed green hydrogen pilot refueling station — dubbed H2GO — to test the viability of the potential long-term use of zero-emission hydrogen-powered vehicles.

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

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- World’s largest iceberg breaks free and floats on: An iceberg 3x the size of New York City has broken away from Antarctica and is heading toward the Southern Ocean, after being grounded to the sea floor for 37 years. The 400 meter thick ice mass named A23a — which weighs around 1 tn metric tons and once housed a USSR research station — is now on a path to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, also known as the “iceberg alley” where ice masses end up when they melt off of the coastline. An iceberg of this size could become stranded at South Georgia island, potentially cutting off food supplies for the mns of seals, penguins, and seabirds that rely on surrounding waters for sustenance. It could also end up farther north toward South Africa and disrupt shipping movements in spite of warmer waters due to its colossal size. The cause of A23a’s break away and whether it is climate-driven is still being studied.

The story made headlines in the international press over the weekend:Reuters | BBC | The Washington PostCNBC | CNN | France 24

COUNTDOWN TO COP28- The summit gets serious on health: Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health and the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre will be hosting a 12-day event from Thursday, 30 November through to Tuesday, 12 December at the Knowledge Hub in COP28’s Green Zone with the aim of spotlighting the impact of the climate crisis on the healthcare sector, according to a statement released on Friday. The event will include panel discussions on the necessity of decarbonizing the global healthcare sector and transitioning to green hospitals, and will explore implementation of Environmental Burden of Disease (EBD) tools to assess the scale of climate-driven ailments to support formulation of adaptation/mitigation strategies.

ALSO- Dubai will launch a pilot carbon trading platform at COP28: The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) plans to launch its maiden voluntary carbon market (VCM) during COP28, according to a statement(pdf) released last week. DFM will kickstart the VCM’s pilot for institutional investors between Monday, 4 December and Friday, 8 December, with the offsetting period ending on 10 January 2024. Clearing and settlement processes will be handled in USD by Dubai Clear and the Dubai Central Securities Depository (DCSD), with global daily price reference provided by leading pricing agencies like Dow Jones’ OPIS, the statement notes.

Who’s supplying the carbon credits? The CO2 offsets will be supplied by the Dubai Water and Electricity Company (Dewa) along with the UK’s My Carbon, who have sourced their credits from “internationally certified carbon projects around the world” focussing on carbon avoidance, reduction, and removal initiatives.

Who’s buying?More than 17 UAE-based companies — including DP World, Tabreed, Dubai Municipality, Majid Al Majid Al Futtaim, and Emirates NBD — will participate in the VCM’s pilot, the statement notes.

The DFM platform is supported by several regional banks: The credits will be traded on DFM’s platform via Al Ramz Capital, Arqaam Securities, BHM Capital, EFG Hermes, and Emirates NBD Securities.

The regional VCM market is picking up steam: The UAE said it willbegin regulating carbon credit trading exchanges and clearing houses ahead of COP28. In June, the UAE Independent Climate Change Accelerators launched the UAE Carbon Alliance in partnership with Singapore-based carbon trading exchange AirCarbon Exchange (ACX) in a bid to establish a framework for carbon markets. Saudi’s Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company is also planning to establish a carbon trading exchange early next year. The carbon credit market could see CO2 trading of 100-150 mn tons by the end of the decade.

WATCH THIS SPACE #1- A fresh batch of bids for renewable energy projects in Egypt:Egypt’s Electricity Ministry has received 10 bids from local companies as well as local-foreign JVs to implement projects to produce renewable energy, a government source told Enterprise Climate. The bidding companies include Acwa Power, Amea Power, Hassan Allam, Scatec, Madkur, and Infinity, the source added. The winning bids should be revealed by next month, along with the timetable for the construction of the projects, they said.

Big money involved: The total investments that would amount to around USD 3 bn, Al Arabiya reports, citing people it says have knowledge of the matter. The foreign bidders hail from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, England, Germany, and China, according to Al Arabiya. The bids included a request to acquire areas of land on which to build the renewable energy stations, which would produce energy for local consumption and for water desalination projects, the sources added. Two of the bidding companies have already implemented solar energy projects in the Benban complex in Aswan, and they want to expand the projects alongside another Arab entity and launch projects with investments of more than USD 300 mn, one source said.

IN OTHER NEWS-Egypt unrolls green hydrogen strategy: Egypt is aiming to net between USD 10 to 18 bn in investments to capture 5-8% of the global green hydrogen production by 2040, according to a statement released last week. The country also aims to offset around 40 mn tons of CO2 emissions by the same time.

REMEMBER- Egypt is bullish on green hydrogen: Egypt is drafting a law to boost green hydrogen production which would offer producers between 33% to 55% of tax breaks on revenues generated from local green hydrogen projects. The gov’t also signed several framework agreements for green hydrogen projects during COP27, which are expected to have a combined USD 83 bn investment ticket and produce up to 7.6 mn tons of green ammonia annually from 2.7 mn tons of hydrogen.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- The EU has drawn up plans to boost power grid investments: The European Commission has drawn up plans to increase its investments in Europe’s power grids, with new plans for dozens of electricity projects that would receive priority access to permits and EU funds, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a draft document it has seen. The Commission will propose a plan this week to begin the investments. Brussels will grant “projects of common interest” status to 68 electricity projects — of which 12 are for energy storage — allowing them access to faster permits and EU funding, the newswire writes. Europe would need to invest some EUR 584 bn (USD 637 bn) to upgrade its power grids this decade, according to EU estimates, as many of its grids are decades old and need to adapt to the wind and solar power generation, the newswire added.

ALSO- Europe’s central bank issues cracks down on banks not heeding to climate risks:The European Central Bank (ECB) has threatened 20 banks with fines amounting to 5% of their daily average revenue is they fail to integrate environmental risks in their investments, Bloomberg reported last week, citing sources familiar with the matter. The ECB has given lenders individual deadlines to address its failure to evaluate and integrate environmental risks in their investments. The European Banking Authority set new industry-wide requirements last month obliging banks to adjust their client risk assessment procedures to include environmental and social risks.

What does bad climate risk management look like? The ECB says lender shortcomings include insufficient preparation for the fallout of extreme weather shocks on asset values, and a lack of assessment on the likelihood of clients with big carbon footprints going out of business, Bloomberg writes. Banks are also falling behind in meeting green financing goals, according to other studies cited by Bloomberg. UK-based nonprofit ShareAction examined the green finance claims of the 20 biggest lenders in the EU, the UK, Switzerland and Norway, and found that “targets and disclosures aren’t fit for purpose and could lead to misleading claims.”

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- 82 investors support the overhaul of the global mining industry: The Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030 — a UN-backed investor-led initiative — has secured support from 82 investors with a collective USD 11 tn in assets to reform the mining sector and accommodate for the growing demand for rare earths critical to the clean energy transition, according to a statement released last week. UK ins. firm Aviva, EU asset manager Legal & General Investment Management, and Dutch fund APG-AM are among the initiative’s backers and will help the commission slash the hard-to-abate mining sector’s carbon footprint, promote ESG practices, and push down biodiversity loss from extraction and mineral processing, Bloomberg notes.

Why this is needed: The mining sector accounts for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to Nature Journal. The industry has also been linked to toxic sludge production and mercury poisoning, Bloomberg notes. Child labor in the Congo’s mining sector has also been dubbed equivalent to “modern day slavery,” according to NPR.

WATCH THIS SPACE #4- Tabreed is eyeing more South Asian expansion: The National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) is planning to expand in markets including Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia, Tabreed chairman Khaled Al Qubaisi told The National last week. “If the right opportunities present themselves, we’ll be looking at [mergers and acquisitions] as well,” he added. The company will also incorporate green finance in its expansion plans.

Tabreed is already expanding in the region: Tabreed and the regional government of India’s Telangana state agreed to explore investments in the district cooling sector of Hyderabad in September.

WORTH READING- A bold idea for tackling HtA industries: A new scheme replicating South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) could channel concessionary loans, grants, and equity investments toward green energy projects aimed at help hard-to-abate (HtA) industries in developing markets divest away from fossil fuels, Egypt’s Climate Envoy Mahmoud Mohieldin said in an interview with Reuters on Saturday. The new structure mirroring JETP is especially pertinent given the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) regulations, which starting 2026 would enforce strict carbon levies on EU imports and have “serious implications” on emerging market exporters of products including cement, aluminum, steel, and fertilizers, Mohieldin added.

Why this is necessary: HtA sectors are likely to fight CBAM through the World Trade Organization or work around CBAM taxes by purchasing carbon credits or through negotiation exemptions, Mohieldin told the newswire. Instead of using penalties to push for decarbonization of polluting sectors in emerging markets, there should be a global push incentivizing the energy transition through catalytic funding which sees governments and multilateral lenders commit financing at conventional investment rates at disproportionate risk and concessionary returns to stimulate investment, he added. The financing structure can support fossil fuel divestments and green energy investments, Mohieldin said, adding that Egypt and other African countries are already devising catalytic funding strategies.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The UAE will host the World Green Economy Summit from Tuesday, 28 November through to Wednesday, 29 November in Dubai. The event will bring together green tech developers and policymakers to explore pathways to accelerate the transition to net-zero sources and meet the Paris-agreed 1.5 °C warming threshold.

The UAE will host the Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) from Monday, 27 November to Thursday, 30 November in Abu Dhabi. The event will gather government officials, banks, financial institutions, and VCs to delve into today’s most pressing economic, technological, and sustainability issues.

The UAE will host the Conference of the Parties (COP28) from Thursday, 30 November through to Tuesday, 12 December in Dubai. COP28 will be divided into Blue and Green zones with the former reserved for heads of states, government delegations, and UN bodies. The green zone — which will be open to the public — will serve as a central hub where developers, industry leaders, NGOs, and climate activists come together to explore pathways to accelerate the transition to clean energy. The zone will host over 300 talks tackling the climate crisis and showcase climate-focused interactive exhibits.

Oman will host its Green Hydrogen Summit from Tuesday 12, December through to Thursday, 14 December in Muscat. The two-day event will bring together green fuels developers, renewables companies, and policy makers in a bid to chart a course toward carbon-neutrality by 2050. Aside from the conference, the summit will also include masterclasses delving into the specifics of the green hydrogen value chain, from green electricity production to H2 production, distribution and storage. You can register for the event here.

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