Egyptian Ali Abdo is hoping to promote sustainability while setting a world record for the longest electric motorcycle ride in his journey to Cop27, the UN climate summit being held in Sharm El Sheikh in November.
The environmental activist, who has set two Guinness World Records, plans to cover nearly 20,000 kilometres and all of Egypt’s 27 governorates during his “Ride to Cop27”.
Mr Abdo will criss-cross the country, starting at Abu Simbel in Upper Egypt and finishing in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El Sheikh.
“I personally believe that knowledge can save us,” Mr Abdo, 37, told The National. "The first step is to know there’s a problem. And that’s what I’m trying to show during this trip: the impacts of climate change and the small steps that we can take."
The drive, supported by the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Environment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will begin on October 1 and take about a month.
Cop27 takes place from November 6 to 18.
Mr Abdo said the main goals of the journey are to document the effects of climate change on societies through collecting stories, to spread awareness on how people can decrease their own carbon footprints and to encourage youth to come up with solutions.
The “Ride to Zero” hackathon, an online competition that runs simultaneously with the trip, will select the best ideas to combat climate change from five Egyptian cities: Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut, Suez and Tanta.
While covering more than 500km per day, Mr Abdo will visit schools, universities, villages and government offices in an effort to promote his message of sustainability.
“It’s like a framework connecting people together,” he said.
Mr Abdo, who works as a corporate social responsibility manager at IBM, has not always been an environmental activist.
The man from Alexandria has a passion for motorbikes and in 2013 started touring Egypt to learn more about his homeland. In 2016, he drove nearly 6,000km over the course of seven days.
He set his first Guinness World Record in 2017 for the greatest distance on a motocross bike in 24 hours, riding more than 600km in El Gouna on the Red Sea.
In 2019, he began to shift his focus to building awareness of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and became a sustainability ambassador through a programme with the Egyptian Ministry of Planning and Economic Development.
While he had a certain attachment to motorbike culture and the sound of revving the engine, he recognised he needed to abandon his old ways.
“I can’t do something associated with the environment when I’m riding a gas motorcycle, so I changed to an e-motorcycle,” he said.
In September 2021, he set his second Guinness World Record, this time the greatest distance on an electric motorcycle in 24 hours. He covered nearly 920km in New Alamein on the Mediterranean coast.
Ride to Cop27 will attempt to break two world records: the world’s longest journey on an electric motorcycle and longest electric motorcycle journey in a single country.
The first record stands at 12,379km, set by an Italian entrepreneur who rode through 11 countries from Shanghai, China to Milan, Italy in July 2013.
Owning an electric motorcycle in the Middle East is rare, which makes it “attract people’s attention”, Mr Abdo said.
He recognises that not everyone can make the switch from petrol or diesel cars and motorcycles to electric, but people can find other ways to reduce emissions, such as using public transport, bicycles or scooters.
“The core issue of climate actions is financing,” he said. "No one can finance everything we need, but we can transform individual behaviour to get an impact. That’s my vision."
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
THE LOWDOWN
Romeo Akbar Walter
Rating: 2/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Robby Grewal
Cast: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher
Living in...
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Company%20profile
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
Group A
Paraguay
Japan
Switzerland
USA
Group B
Uruguay
Mexico
Italy
Tahiti
Group C
Belarus
UAE
Senegal
Russia
Group D
Brazil
Oman
Portugal
Nigeria
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
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
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
POWERWASH%20SIMULATOR
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Seven%20Winters%20in%20Tehran
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Profile
Name: Carzaty
Founders: Marwan Chaar and Hassan Jaffar
Launched: 2017
Employees: 22
Based: Dubai and Muscat
Sector: Automobile retail
Funding to date: $5.5 million
Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
* JP Morgan Private Bank
