Russel Mills plane-hops from Copenhagen to Durban to Doha, representing a major industrial power at the United Nations climate negotiations.
In Dubai recently for meetings with the office of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Mr Mills pushed for cooperation in innovation and regulatory expertise — not on behalf of his nation, but Dow Chemical, the American company that makes fertiliser, plastics and raw materials such as chlorine.
The global warming debate, once the exclusive domain of governments and green non-governmental organisations (NGOs), has gone corporate.
Oil majors and other industrial giants have stepped up their game, knowing that any caps on emissions will hit their bottom line.
Ipieca, an energy industry organisation based in London made up of such companies with climate change teams, has watched its membership numbers double from 22 in 1974 to 51 today.
Dow Chemical, which has invested in a US$20 billion (Dh73.45bn) petrochemical joint venture with Saudi Aramco and operates plants around the world, relies on hydrocarbons both as the raw material to craft polymers and as a fuel to drive its plants.
"Fossil fuels are going to be used for a long time," says Mr Mills, Dow's director for energy and climate change policy.
"So let's be transparent and open about this - let's not pretend that magically things are going to disappear. This is not about stopping fossil fuel use. It's not even about at this point reducing fossil fuel use, because it's clear they're going to continue growing. This is about smarter use of fossil fuels."
Companies walking the green line often cite the economic benefit of reducing their reliance on oil and gas. Dow Chemical's reference case is a $1 billion investment begun in 1994 to promote energy saving with the hope of breaking even. Instead, taking into account the rising cost of energy, Dow says it has reaped a total return of $25bn.
"We wouldn't be here today if we hadn't started that," Mr Mills says.
After Oxford University, Dow's chief climate envoy spent the next three decades working on the company's commercial and business development side - putting the pieces in place for multibillion-dollar plants.
Then he was seconded for several years to an industry association in Brussels - a crash course in the political milieu of energy policy. The European Union launched its emissions trading system and the United States flirted with the idea of its own cap-and-trade regime.
"It needed a combination of technical understanding because some of this stuff gets quite technical, but some of the stuff is quite high level, generic, societal-driven," Mr Mills says. "It was good to have enough of an understanding from the Dow capability standpoint, but also understanding of how politicians speak compared to how businesspeople speak - because we speak a different language.
"Any businessperson who goes to a UN climate meeting for the first time, they don't even understand what's being said because we all use different acronyms, and we say things in different ways," Mr Mills says. "You have to have people to speak the same language so at least you can guide the conversation."
The conversation can be difficult at negotiations where 194 nations - along with companies like Dow and environmental NGOs offering their input on the sidelines - are trying to agree on a universal plan for the planet.
"It's a slow and quite painful process and I think what we always find difficult from a business perspective is in business when you have a process and the process is not working, you stop the process and try and develop a different process," Mr Mills says.
"When you look at the UN climate process, a lot of the thinking is 30 years out of date. People spend forever talking about the past.
"We're never going to solve a problem which is really going to impact much more seriously long-term in the future in 2050 or whatever unless we start looking to the future."
ayee@thenational.ae
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km
Price: From Dh796,600
On sale: now
In Praise of Zayed
A thousand grains of Sand whirl in the sky
To mark the journey of one passer-by
If then a Cavalcade disturbs the scene,
Shall such grains sing before they start to fly?
What man of Honour, and to Honour bred
Will fear to go wherever Truth has led?
For though a Thousand urge him to retreat
He'll laugh, until such counsellors have fled.
Stands always One, defiant and alone
Against the Many, when all Hope has flown.
Then comes the Test; and only then the time
Of reckoning what each can call his own.
History will not forget: that one small Seed
Sufficed to tip the Scales in time of need.
More than a debt, the Emirates owe to Zayed
Their very Souls, from outside influence freed.
No praise from Roderic can increase his Fame.
Steadfastness was the Essence of his name.
The changing years grow Gardens in the Sand
And build new Roads to Sand which stays the same.
But Hearts are not rebuilt, nor Seed resown.
What was, remains, essentially Alone.
Until the Golden Messenger, all-wise,
Calls out: "Come now, my Friend!" - and All is known
- Roderic Fenwick Owen
The%20specs
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Profile of MoneyFellows
Founder: Ahmed Wadi
Launched: 2016
Employees: 76
Financing stage: Series A ($4 million)
Investors: Partech, Sawari Ventures, 500 Startups, Dubai Angel Investors, Phoenician Fund
EVIL%20DEAD%20RISE
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