Good morning, friends. It’s a quiet morning on the regional climate industry front, with some news on Saudi’s nuclear ambitions trickling in and a forecast on how global critical minerals demand will shape up by 2040. First, a bright spot of progress…

FROM THE DEPT. OF GOOD NEWS- The ozone layer is on track for a full restoration by 2050, the UNFCCC wrote on X. The ozone layer’s comeback is due to a mass push to phase out “ozone-depleting substances” including CFCs, HCFCs, and halons back in 1987, and points out the power of collective change on World Ozone Day. The phase-out plan has reduced the harmful substances worldwide by 98%.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Saudi to ditch SQP for stricter nuclear oversight: Saudi Arabia submitted a request to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in July to withdraw from the Small Quantities Protocol (SQP) and switch to the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA) as the country looks to expand nuclear capacities, Reuters reports, citing comments made by Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman at the IAEA's annual General Conference. Saudi qualified for the SQP — which exempts states with less nuclear advanced technology from certain obligations and inspections — because it has not yet launched its first nuclear reactor.

What’s next? The country expects to be fully rescinded from the program by the end of December, the newswire writes. There is no word yet on if Saudi will also opt in to the Additional Protocol which provides even stricter oversight than the CSA.

There’s still no timeline on a launch: Saudi Arabia said it was planning to set up its first nuclear power plant under a bid to advance its nascent nuclear program under monitoring by the IAEA in September 2023. The country said it would therefore allow international inspectors wider oversight of its nuclear activities through broader monitoring guidelines with the IAEA.

Cooperation with the US is also on the cards: Members of the US Congress were briefed on a proposed Saudi-US nuclear agreement back in June as part of what officials hope will be a landmark series of agreements between Riyadh and Washington. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman also signed an energy cooperation roadmap earlier in May with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm including a nuclear energy pact.

IN OTHER SAUDI NEWS- Renewables giant Acwa Power is looking to invest USD 1.5 bn in a new project in Egypt, vice chairman Raad Al Saady said during a meeting with Egyptian Investment Minister Hassan El Khatib. No further details were disclosed about what type of project the company — which is currently developing a number of large-scale renewables projects, including a green hydrogen megaproject in the Suez Canal Economic Zone — would be undertaking.

#2- The USD 30 bn UAE-based climate fund Alterra is capping its own returns on high-risk investments in a bid to attract global capital, CEO Majid Al Suwaidi told Semafor in an interview. “We have different arrangements, some with strict caps on return and others based on a ‘first in, capped out’ model which is totally new,” Al Suwaidi said, with a strategy designed to make riskier investments more appealing, enticing global fund managers to invest in green projects.

What we know: It’s unclear where the fund would cap its returns, but the strategy has been proving fruitful in terms of attracting asset managers who normally are not active in climate finance, Al Suwaidi said, saying it’s in talks with a few.

About the fund: The USD 30 bn vehicle was launched last year during COP28 to increase climate funding for the Global South, with an initial USD 1 bn investment from the UAE. Alterra recently said it will direct an extra USD 200 bn to investments over the next six years, after saying it aims to mobilize USD 250 bn in green investments by 2030.

ALSO- The fund is considering direct and co-investments, with agreements expected to be announced soon, Al Suwaidi added.

IN OTHER UAE NEWS- The Dubai Financial Services Authority and Hong Kong Monetary Authority signed an MoU at their inaugural climate finance conference in Hong Kong yesterday to expedite sustainable finance and facilitate collaboration on transition finance, Wam reports. Both authorities will boost cross-border dialogue, share trends, and collaborate on research and events to advance the sector.

#3- Oman approves 12 applicants to proceed to next round of wind tender process: Oman’s Nama Power and Water Procurement Company (PWP) has shortlisted 12 qualified applicants for each of the five wind IPPs, according to a statement. The chosen companies include Acwa Power, TotalEnergies, Masdar, Al Fanar, EDF Renewables, and Itochu.

The projects: The shortlisted companies are bidding for wind projects ranging between 81 to 400 MW capacity, according to the Request for Qualifications notice released in March.

#4- The world needs global carbon pricing to mitigate trade disputes arising from carbon border tax implementation deemed unfair by some, World Trade Organization (WTO) head Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the Financial Times. The WTO is working with the IMF, OECD, and UN to create an international carbon pricing system that would prevent “difficult and problematic” friction over environmental impacts on trade, she added. There are currently 78 carbon pricing and taxation systems in the world.

Carbon pricing is already a heated topic: The WTO’s move comes in response to the EU’s carbon border tax (CBAM) – to be implemented in 2026 – that requires exporters to the bloc to pay a tariff at the set EU carbon price for emissions of heavy-industry products.The measure aims to set equal conditions for EU manufacturers who have to pay for emissions under the EU’s cap and trade system but is anticipated to draw a lot of backlash from trading partners – India already implying a WTO case. The UK is already working on its own carbon border tax which it hopes to implement at the same time as the EU to avoid dumping of high emission steel meant for the EU in its domestic market, the Financial Times wrote in a separate report.

Some think the EU measure is unfair: Developing countries view CBAM as an unfair protectionist mechanism seeing as their goods might be priced out of the EU market even though they contribute less to emissions. The EU still strongly backs the mechanism, but Okonjo-Iweala worries it might be at the expense of important trade routes which the WTO hopes to avoid with a global framework.

First, there are kinks to iron out: Should a global system be implemented, there would have to be measures preventing heavy emitters from moving to places with lower carbon pricing to continue operations. The EU would also have to rework CBAM to align with the new framework.

#5- Stellantis opposes EU delay on 2025 emissions targets: German automaker Stellantis is against any delay to the EU's 2025 emissions targets, Bloomberg reports, citing an AFP interview with CEO Carlos Tavares earlier this week. It would be "surreal" to change the rules now, as manufacturers have had ample time to prepare, Tavares told AFP. Stellantis has already rolled out EVs and plans to compete with Chinese manufacturers and Tesla.

ICYMI- The EU car lobby recently proposed a delay of emissions targets due to low demand: The EU car industry lobby is urging the government to use emergency regulation to delay the 2025 target of limiting the CO2 fleet emission of about 95 grams of CO2 per kilometer per vehicle. The group argued that the EU car sector can’t meet the target due to “low consumer demand for EVs and unfair competition from third country EV manufacturers.” To meet the emissions target, EVs would need to account for 20-22% of all sales, but the percentage is stuck at under 15% for cars and even less for vans.

DANGER ZONE-

Data center emissions were likely 662% higher than officially reported between 2020 to 2022, according to analysis by the Guardian. Big tech companies examined in the Guardian’s analysis include Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple, with the industry’s highest emitter, Amazon, left out due to its “complex business model.”

How the tech giants are hiding the numbers: Despite claiming carbon neutrality, big tech firms rely on “creative accounting methods” like the use of renewable energy certificates (RECs) to obscure their actual emissions. Data centers consumed 1% to 1.5% of global electricity in 2022, and with accelerating AI adoption, this number could soar, according to the International Energy Agency. These companies primarily report on their scope 2 emissions, specifically from in-house data centers, which underrepresents the true numbers. Additionally, it is nearly impossible to prove whether these companies include scope 3 emissions in their reports, and they all use market-based metrics meaning third-party data center emissions are undercounted.

There’s a push towards a different metric system: The industry's reliance on RECs has sparked controversy, with some advocating for more transparent, location-based emissions reporting. “Location-based [accounting] gives an accurate picture of the emissions associated with the energy that’s actually being consumed to run the data center. And Uptime’s view is that it’s the right metric,” said Jay Dietrich, the research director of sustainability at Uptime Institute, a data center advisory and research organization.

The real numbers are staggering: Using location-based accounting, the Guardian’s analysis found that Meta’s actual scope 2 emissions was 3.1k times higher than officially reported, while Apple’s was 402x higher, Microsoft’s was 21x higher, and Google’s were 2.7x higher.

THE FINANCE FORUM-

We’re a week away from this year’s EnterpriseAM Finance Forum, taking place on Tuesday, 24 September.

Headlining the EnterpriseAM Finance Forum: We’ll be joined for the first time on stage by a senior government official, who’s joining us to outline a vision for where we’re going as a community and as an economy. The keynote interview will get underway at 9am sharp, and you won’t want to miss our exclusive networking breakfast from 8am.

Among the topics on the agenda, which you can view here:

• Welcome to the hot seat — top industry CEOs set the tone by addressing the biggest (and toughest) questions of the day.
• Looking from the outside in — what foreign investors and strategics think about Egypt right now.
• The only asset class in town — It’s real estate or nothing. We’ll get into the ins and outs of the industry, how it’s financing itself, which areas (and price points) are next, and more.
• Gazing into that crystal ball — The outlook for dealflow in 2025, from M&A and IPOs to securitization, FX and more.
• A once in a generation opportunity? — A deep dive into the promise and pitfalls of the emerging energy economy.
• Do we really love banking SMEs? — With NBFIs and fintech players staking their claims, banks are starting to take the SME market seriously.
• The NBFI panel — The resilience of the Egyptian consumer is the business story of the decade. How are banks and NBFS players building sustainable businesses? What are the opportunities — and credit worries — in the B2B space?

Haven’t requested an invitation yet? Do it today — space is limited. Tap or click heretolet us know you’re interested.

** IMPORTANT NOTE — If you’ve already received your invitation on email, you *must* click through to confirm you’re attending.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Tunisia will host the Decarbomed Forum from Tuesday, 24 September to Wednesday, 25 September in Tunis. The forum will showcase innovative solutions for transitioning to carbon neutrality in Tunisia and the Mediterranean region, focusing on helping businesses take advantage of new tech, renewable energy services, and green financing mechanisms to decarbonize operations.

The UAE will host the Green Steel Summit from Wednesday, 25 September to Thursday, 26 September in Dubai. The event will bring together steel industry professionals and decision makers to discuss market intelligence and the latest technological developments in sustainable steelmaking.

Egypt will host the Portfolio Egypt conference on Monday, 30 September in Cairo. The event aims to enhance cooperation among Arab stock exchanges and will cover crucial topics including market integration, product diversification, carbon markets, and regional debt markets. It will aim to outline recommendations to strengthen regional financial markets.

Egypt will host Cairo Sustainable Energy Week from Tuesday, 1 October to Thursday, 3 October in Cairo. The event will bring together policymakers, companies, and experts to discuss collaboration on the renewable energy transition across 17 Arab countries.

The UAE will host the World Green Economy Summit from Wednesday, 2 October to Thursday, 3 October in Dubai. The summit will promote the push for a green economy and will offer a platform for international entities to collaborate on sustainable development, financing, and policymaking.

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