Good morning, wonderful people. The news cycle has slowed as we slide in the weekend, but we have a couple of big stories making headlines this morning.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- A consortium of Orascom Construction, Metito, Adnoc, and Taqa will establish a USD 2.4 bn mega seawater treatment and water supply project in the UAE.
^^ We have the details on this story and more in the news well, below.
HAPPENING TODAY- The second meeting of the COP27 Transitional Committee is kicking off today in Bonn, Germany and running until Saturday, 27 May. 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 BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- Members of UN’s Net Zero Ins. Alliance to convene for emergency meeting after multiple exits: Members of the world’s largest climate association for ins. companies, the UN’s Net Zero Ins. Alliance — which includes ins. giants such as Allianz, Aviva, and Generali Group — will hold an emergency meeting today after Zurich-based reinsurance firm Zurich RE joined Hannover Re, Zurich Ins. Group, and Munich RE in exiting the group. While Zurich RE said the reason for its departure was to focus on helping its clients transition to a low carbon economy, Munich Re explicitly noted antitrust concerns led to its withdrawal from the climate alliance. The exits are drawing skepticism among industry leaders on the utility of voluntary industry associations aiming to slash carbon output. The story was picked up by Reuters and Bloomberg.
WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Egypt plans to launch an alliance to increase accessible green finance for developing countries next September, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said in a statement. Speaking at the Net Zero Delivery Summit in London, Maait said the alliance aims to facilitate and unlock spending for “developing and African countries to invest in green projects through concessional financing,” adding that several unnamed African and non-African countries and regional and international financial institutions have expressed interest in joining the initiative led by Egypt. Maait reiterated recent incentives put forth by the Egyptian government to stimulate the country’s nascent green hydrogen industry including tax breaks of between 33-55% on income earned from the plants.
The beat goes on: Maait has repeatedly urged developed nations and financial institutions to increase climate financing to developing countries. He called on development finance institutions on the sidelines of COP27 last year to step up with “more financing at a reasonable cost and on reasonable terms” to climate-exposed countries. “The amounts required for implementation are huge,” Maait said. “Now, we are talking tns, not bns” of USD, he said at the time.
WATCH THIS SPACE #2- The aviation industry’s 2050 net zero target may be beyond reach, Reuters quotes Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker as saying. Insufficient availability of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), hydrogen, and other clean-energy supplies make it likely the sector will miss its carbon neutrality target. “I don’t think that we will be able to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Everybody’s talking about it but let us be realistic — there is not enough production of sustainable aviation fuel,” Al Baker said.
Echoing Boeing’s concerns on the practicality of SAFs: US aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing has said that the transition to SAF will not be as cost-effective as jet fuel. The company’s CEO David Calhoun also voiced concern this week that government efforts to make the transition to SAF affordable — such as the US Inflation Reduction Act’s tax breaks for SAF adoption — will not be enough to achieve price parity with conventional jet fuels.
WATCH THIS SPACE #3- Embattled Verra CEO resigns: David Anatolli, the CEO of US-based voluntary carbon credit certification body Verra, will step down in June following claims that the company approved mns in “worthless” credits, Anatolli said in a statement on LinkedIn. Anatolli said Verra remains the “leading standard-setter” of the carbon accreditation industry, and that current company President Judith Simon would succeed him as interim chief executive when he steps down next month.
REMEMBER- 90% of Verra’s credits are allegedly inconsequential: An investigation published last January by The Guardian, German weekly Die Zeit, and nonprofit investigative journalism organization SourceMaterial revealed that over 90% of the offsets provided by Verra are phantom credits, with only a handful showing evidence of reducing deforestation. Climate-focused organizations including Greenpeace warn that carbon credits in general are a “scam” that enables corporations to greenwash their carbon output. The world’s first carbon trading schemes were established in the 1990s to facilitate the exchange of carbon credits for companies and governments unable to meet their CO2 mitigation targets.
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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-
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.


