Good morning, friends. It’s a quiet morning on the regional climate industry front, but we have some bits and pieces emerging from Davos to set the stage for 2024.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- KSA’s Aramco will funnel USD 4 bn over the next four years to its venture capital arm and green investor Aramco Ventures. The earmarked funds will double the company’s current funding from USD 3 bn to USD 7 bn.

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

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- Greenland is losing 30 mn tons of ice an hour: AI-powered satellite data analysis has found the rate of glacial retreat in Greenland to be 20% higher than previously thought, with some 30 mn tons of ice melting on an hourly basis due to climate-driven global warming. Glaciers shrink when ice melts at a faster pace than snowfall can collect to form new glacial ice. The study — which is the first to account for glacial retreats – has found that nearly 1.03 tn kg of Greenland’s ice sheet was lost between 1985 and 2022.

The story made headlines in the international press:Reuters | The New York Times | The Guardian | The Washington Post

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Qatar will be ready to list its first sovereign green bond very soon, Qatari Finance Minister Ali Al-Kuwari told Asharq Business on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. “We are not hungry for money, but it will be mainly to send a strong statement about the need to counter climate change,” Al-Kuwari said. The country offered USD 75 bn in sustainable financing last year, and plans to establish a sustainable finance market worth more than USD 22 tn globally by 2031.

#2- Turkey’s Tosyali eyes USD 5 bn KSA steel plant: Turkish steelmaker Tosyali Holding could invest as much as USD 5 bn in a planned steel plant in Saudi Arabia as part its international growth plans, chairman Fuat Tosyali told Bloomberg on the sidelines of WEF in Davos.

BACKGROUND- Tosyali inked a MoU last week with the National Industrial Development Center (NIDC) to set up a flat rolled steel complex in Ras Al Khair industrial zone. The facility will produce 4 mn tons per year of hot and cold rolled coil, galvanized coil, and electrical steel for sale to the automotive, machinery and energy sectors.

#2- The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will break ground on its first green hydrogen plant in the coming period, Attaqa reports, citing comments made by the firm’s Managing Director Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr.The company’s plans to divest from fossil fuels and transition to low-carbon and net-zero power sources has moved beyond the research stage and has officially entered the experimental phase, with study results set to be announced soon, Mehr added. Iran has been drafting its national hydrogen strategy since August.

On a renewables mission: Iran’s renewables sector relies mostly on solar, hydroelectric, and wind power plants to generate the lion’s share of its output. Renewables account for nearly 7% of the country’s total energy generation, the vast majority of which comes from hydrocarbons. Last year, Iran said it plans to add 10 GW of renewable capacity by August 2025. It also signed MoUs with the private sector last year to set up new renewable power plants across the country.

IN OTHER IRAN NEWS- The countryis boosting its EV porfolio: Iran plans to unveil eight new EV models soon, Azerbaijani news outlet Trend News Agency reports, citing comments made by Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade Abbas Aliabadi at an industry event. The new models, locally made by KermanmotorAutomobile Manufacturing Company, have a 402 km range and can fully charge in 45 minutes. Iran is also looking to produce more electric buses and cars, the report added.

REMEMBER- Iran is interested in localizing EV production: Six Iranian automakers — including the country’s two largest, SAIPA Automotive Group and Iran Khodro Industrial Group — said they are collaborating with China to co-produce electric cars in Iran. The Iran Space Research Center also designed and manufactured the country’s first lithium-ion battery cells used for EVs last week.

#3- Study finds PPA prices in KSA not economically viable: A new study (pdf) by researchers at King Abdulaziz University revealed that the current power purchase agreement (PPA) tariffs for solar and wind power projects in Saudi Arabia are too high to make them economically feasible. The study used a combination of methods to identify optimal locations for renewable energy plants and to estimate their levelized cost of energy.

The findings: The researchers analyzed data from two existing facilities in Saudi Arabia — the 300 MW Sakaka solar plant and the 400 MW Dumat Al Jandal wind farm — and found that their PPA prices of $23.40/MWh and $21.30/MWh, respectively, allow them to achieve a positive net present value (NPV), yet other potential sites for solar and wind power require higher PPA prices, ranging from $26.10/MWh to $50.60/MWh, to reach zero NPV. The study suggests that increasing the PPA prices could boost the profitability of solar and wind power projects in Saudi, which aims to generate 50% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

IN OTHER KSA NEWS- Al Fanar’s investments in Egypt could reach USD 1.5 bn this year asthe Saudi company expects its Egyptian operations to “take up a larger space in 2024,” company VP Sabah Almutlaq told Asharq Business at Davos (watch, runtime: 0:57). Al Fanar is a regional and global powerhouse in the construction of renewable energy systems and made the headlines in the local business press after inking an MoU to build a USD 3.5 bn green hydrogen and ammonia facility. Al Fanar has also supported our solar ambitions and runs a 50-MW section of the Benban Solar Park.

#4- Renewable energy tech startups are among the most well-positioned to attract investments over the coming year, leading seed and early-stage venture capital Flat6Labs General Manager Ryaan Sharif said in a press release (pdf). Renewable tech was included among fintech, generative AI, e-commerce enablement, and healthtech as some of the startups with the most potential in 2024. These startups have “based their disruptive innovations around sectors that the government is heavily backing,” Sharif said.

#5- First Movers Coalition grabs 120 commitments at Davos: US-backed First MoversCoalition (FMC) — a collaborative initiative which guides, supports, and provides tools to help hard-to-abate companies decarbonize their activities — saw the signing of 120 commitments from 96 members at the World Economic Forum at Davos, according to a statement. FMC members — whose number increased from 67 last year — have committed to buying near-zero climate tech products and services by 2030 worth a total of USD 16 bn, with a target of offsetting 31 mn tons of CO2. Members of the coalition include Emirates Global Aluminium, the first UAE-headquartered firm to join, Qatar Airways, and the recently joined DP World.

FMC targets heavy industries: The industries FMC aims to decarbonize are aluminum, aviation, carbon dioxide removal, cement and concrete, shipping, steel, and trucking, according to their website. The coalition also launched programs to support green tech in steel and aviation, and provided a sustainable procurement guide for concrete and cement.

And works on improving the procurement process for green equipment: FMC members leverage collaborative procurement as a strategy to amplify their demand signal for emerging, clean technologies and more easily identify qualified supply to purchase, the FMC Impact Brief report (pdf) launched at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting last week explains. “By collaborating to pool their purchasing power, members can attract more supply and drive an improved procurement process,” the report adds.

DANGER ZONE-

Only 55% of business leaders are confident in their firms’ green skills: A new report backed by Spanish renewables giant Iberdrola found that only 55% of 1k industry leaders across nine countries have arranged climate-focused technical expertise programs for their workers, Reuters reports. 62% of surveyed business leaders across the energy, technology, infrastructure, transport and logistics sectors say inadequate training of green skills — knowledge needed to develop and support a sustainable, low-carbon and resource-efficient society — will hamper realization of a net-zero pathway in line with the Paris agreement. A global net-zero transition is forecast to create some 30 mn jobs, according to the International Energy Agency.

REMEMBER- Not the first warning to up green skills investments: Less than 4% of global engineering firms have confidence in their climate resilience skills, according to an international survey by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), which surveyed engineering employers in eight countries. While nearly 90% of the surveyed firms have seen their bottom lines take a hit due climate-driven supply chain disruptions, almost all organizations said their specialist environmental and leadership skills are not adequate to meet their net zero targets, especially in the face of projected surges in demand for green labor.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The UAE will host the Management and Sustainability of Water Resources Conference from Monday, 26 February to Wednesday 28 February in Dubai. Water availability in arid and semiarid regions, global water issues, and future water and environmental challenges are all on the agenda.

Saudi Arabia will host the International Conference on Sand and Dust Storms in theArabian Peninsula from Monday, 4 March to Wednesday, 6 March in Riyadh. The conference will address regional challenges caused by sand and dust storms and discuss monitoring systems, mitigation strategies, economic and infrastructural impacts, and more.

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