More must be done to accelerate green investments in the Mena region and help it make a sustainable transition, climate advocates and business leaders said in Cairo.
Better investment will increase employment opportunities and boost economic development, Tarek Tawfik, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Mena Regional Council and president of AmCham Egypt, said on Sunday.
“Countries in the Mena region have taken proactive steps to advance green investments, adopt climate-change strategies and place sustainability and clean energy as their top priority, believing that sustainability investments will accelerate business growth,” Mr Tawfik told the one-day AmCham Mena Regional Council conference.
The event sought to build on what was achieved at the UN climate conference Cop27, hosted by Egypt, and the road ahead to Cop28, hosted by the UAE.
The council’s mission is to promote trade and investment between the US and Mena, comprising 4,000 members in 11 countries — Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia and the UAE.
Green and sustainable finance in Mena more than quadrupled to $18.6 billion in 2021, from $4.5 billion in 2020, according to the council’s Mena-US Trade and Investment Report 2023.
However, about $230 billion still needs to be mobilised annually in the region for countries to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Mr Tawfik quoted International Renewable Energy Agency figures that renewable energy jobs reached 12.7 million in 2021 and are expected to double in the next decade.
Mahmoud Mohieldin, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for Egypt and the UN Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, said he was proud of the creation of the loss and damage fund at Cop27.
Loss and damage, the payment of reparations to developing countries by developed countries for the damaging effects of climate change, was a decisive issue at the conference.
However, he said “we need to do better”.
On a global scale, countries should be reducing emissions by 45 per cent from now until 2030, but instead are adding about 14 per cent.
Energy demand is expected to double and the region’s share in global oil production is expected to rise from 35 per cent to 44 per cent by 2030, he said.
“The Mena region is responsible for 8.7 per cent of global emissions and emissions, at this current pace, are expected to more than triple by 2060,” Mr Mohieldin said.
“We need to really capture it before it’s too late. If we are going to be late, as we are late in other parts of the world … the cost of dealing with the challenges is going to be multiples of what we see today.”
Private sector's role in a sustainable future
Globally, more than 62 per cent of climate finance is coming from debt instruments and in developing economies, the ratio is even higher than that, Mr Mohieldin said, warning “that’s not a sustainable model for funding”.
The opportunities for wind and solar energy in Mena are “enormous”, he said.
For example, the region receives 22 per cent to 26 per cent of the world's solar energy, which would meet half of global electricity needs.
Ambassador Mohamed Nasr, the lead negotiator for Cop27, said the role of the private sector was crucial in tackling climate change mitigation and adaptation.
“There are a lot of opportunities there. We believe that things are going in the right direction — not at the speed as envisaged and needed — but at least on the right track,” he said.
Sammy Bousaba, president of AmCham Dubai and vice chairman of the AmCham Mena Regional Council, highlighted the US-UAE Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy (Pace).
The agreement signed in November has a goal to act as a catalyst for $100 billion in financing, investment and other support to generate 100 gigawatts of clean energy globally by 2035.
The Cop28 presidency will “carry the conversation forward” with plans for mitigation, adaptation, finance and loss and damage, Mr Bousaba said.
It will also mark the conclusion of the first global stock-take, a comprehensive assessment of the progress made in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Marty Durbin, senior vice president of policy at the US Chamber of Commerce and president of the Global Energy Institute, said there had been much more acknowledgement by governments of the important role the business community has played in recent years.
Noting the increased co-operation between the public sector and private sector in Egypt before Cop27, he said, “we’re seeing that same type of close co-ordination in the UAE already”.
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
2.0
Director: S Shankar
Producer: Lyca Productions; presented by Dharma Films
Cast: Rajnikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Sudhanshu Pandey
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
More on Quran memorisation:
The years Ramadan fell in May
THREE
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.
Stat of the day – 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.
The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227-4 at the close.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE BIO
Ms Davison came to Dubai from Kerala after her marriage in 1996 when she was 21-years-old
Since 2001, Ms Davison has worked at many affordable schools such as Our Own English High School in Sharjah, and The Apple International School and Amled School in Dubai
Favourite Book: The Alchemist
Favourite quote: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail
Favourite place to Travel to: Vienna
Favourite cuisine: Italian food
Favourite Movie : Scent of a Woman
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
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Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Honeymoonish
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Five healthy carbs and how to eat them
Brown rice: consume an amount that fits in the palm of your hand
Non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli: consume raw or at low temperatures, and don’t reheat
Oatmeal: look out for pure whole oat grains or kernels, which are locally grown and packaged; avoid those that have travelled from afar
Fruit: a medium bowl a day and no more, and never fruit juices
Lentils and lentil pasta: soak these well and cook them at a low temperature; refrain from eating highly processed pasta variants
Courtesy Roma Megchiani, functional nutritionist at Dubai’s 77 Veggie Boutique
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Company%20profile
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
On sale: now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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