Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change. Africans lose up to 15 per cent of their potential GDP to climate-related risks, including failed seasonal rains, drought and loss of livestock. By 2100, this might rise to as much as 64 per cent of forgone GDP, equivalent to hundreds of millions of people prevented from escaping poverty. The need for transformational change is therefore not only apparent but urgent.
That is why Africa is holding the Africa Climate Summit in September, co-hosted by Kenya and the African Union Commission. Africa would like to build consensus and take concrete steps forward. We want to use the Summit as a springboard for Africa’s engagement with the next global round of climate diplomacy at Cop28 in the UAE in November.
Africa has abundant renewable resources that could transform the global energy sector, ensuring green growth with low greenhouse gas emissions. Our continent’s renewable energy potential is rated as “superabundant”. With the right technologies and supportive financing mechanisms, Africa holds the world’s potential to change the renewable energy narrative for the entire world.
Moreover, in Africa we have between 30 to 40 per cent of the minerals that will be indispensable in the world’s green industrial revolution. Africa’s arable land could feed the globe without the adoption of industrial agriculture and its attendant contribution to climate change. All these enlisted resources, coupled with the carbon sinks in Africa’s equatorial and tropical forests, would demonstrate that Africa holds part of the solution to climate change.
Africans lose up to 15 per cent of their potential GDP to climate-related risks. By 2100, this might rise to 64 per cent
Cop28 could not have come at a better time and at a better venue. African leaders, heads of state and heads of government will have concluded the inaugural Africa Climate Summit and adopted a declaration that will outline the continent’s road map for diplomatic engagement with the world on climate change. As part of the Nairobi declaration, African leaders are expected to come up with a climate change financing architecture that works for all Africans.
The UAE, the host nation of Cop28, though a fossil fuel producer, is leading in global transition to renewable energy. The examples and lessons of the Emirates’ transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy should enlighten the global debate on fossil fuels, renewable energies and just transitions.
The UAE will be leading by example, providing much-needed conversations on just transitions. Moreover, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, the Cop28 President-designate, has repeatedly spoken of the UAE’s commitment to ensuring that climate finance should be available, affordable and accessible.
The position taken by the Cop28 President-designate on climate financing resonates with the African leaders’ anticipated new financing architecture for climate change. Nairobi, essentially, thanks to the Africa Climate Summit declaration, will hand Dr Al Jaber the button at Cop28 to finish the race on climate change financing architecture for the globe in general, and for Africa, in particular.
Africa’s shortcomings in dealing with climate change, despite its immense resource potential, are related to inaccessible and inadequate financing. Outstanding pledges to provide up to $100 billion per year of climate finance have remained unfulfilled. In other frontiers, only 2 per cent of the $3 trillion invested in renewable energy worldwide over the past 20 years have come to Africa.
If we are to accelerate climate action as a continent, we need better collaboration and new partnerships. Africa is proposing trade and investment as the pathway to tackling climate change. We have seen over the years that donor aid rarely comes to bear in dealing with this challenge.
This is why a different global conversation on climate change financing needs to begin; that conversation will progress in Nairobi during the Africa Climate Summit and its results will come to fruition in the UAE at Cop28.
It is Kenya’s belief that this new financial architecture will provide the financing required to reduce fossil fuel emissions by making available adequate funds for renewable energy development, as well as technologies that are critical enablers in the race to net-zero emissions. This will ensure that energy transition is just and equitable throughout the world, and that developing countries are empowered to opt for low-carbon development pathways.
As co-hosts of the Africa Climate Summit, Kenya looks forward to hosting Dr Al Jaber and his delegation in Nairobi from September 4 to 6. We believe that the Africa Climate Summit will provide necessary tools for diplomatic engagement on climate financing architecture and just transitions for the renewable energy campaign, as Dr Al Jaber prepares to pitch for Africa and other regions of the world that bear the greatest brunt of climate change at Cop28.
Dr Al Jaber’s calls for the tripling of global renewable energy capacity to 11,000 GW by 2030 are in accord with the African leaders’ aspirations. This should make diplomacy easy and self-reinforcing for the UAE, the Cop28 presidency and African leaders.
In our view, as Africa, Cop28 will be a crucial moment to restore hope and optimism that the continent can turn its resources in energy, arable land, critical minerals and carbon sinks into a source of abundance. We can become a continent that starts to tackle climate change and provide solutions to the rest of the world.
Kenya is convinced that in the UAE we have a formidable partner that will help encourage the world to ensure that Africa attains its potential for sustainable development. Each time we speak about climate change, we know that the collective global fortunes are all tied together.
If Cop28 in the UAE succeeds, Kenya will have succeeded, and Africa and the entire globe will have succeeded. And that is why for now, we are all systems go for the Africa Climate Summit, as well as for Cop28, and we look forward to hosting the Cop28 President-designate in Nairobi this September.
Five films to watch
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Pom Poki (1994)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
Q&A with Dash Berlin
Welcome back. What was it like to return to RAK and to play for fans out here again?
It’s an amazing feeling to be back in the passionate UAE again. Seeing the fans having a great time that is what it’s all about.
You're currently touring the globe as part of your Legends of the Feels Tour. How important is it to you to include the Middle East in the schedule?
The tour is doing really well and is extensive and intensive at the same time travelling all over the globe. My Middle Eastern fans are very dear to me, it’s good to be back.
You mix tracks that people know and love, but you also have a visually impressive set too (graphics etc). Is that the secret recipe to Dash Berlin's live gigs?
People enjoying the combination of the music and visuals are the key factor in the success of the Legends Of The Feel tour 2018.
Have you had some time to explore Ras al Khaimah too? If so, what have you been up to?
Coming fresh out of Las Vegas where I continue my 7th annual year DJ residency at Marquee, I decided it was a perfect moment to catch some sun rays and enjoy the warm hospitality of Bab Al Bahr.
Juventus v Napoli, Sunday, 10.45pm (UAE)
Match on Bein Sports
Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg
Roma 4
Milner (15' OG), Dzeko (52'), Nainggolan (86', 90 4')
Liverpool 2
Mane (9'), Wijnaldum (25')
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope
Defenders: John Stones, Harry Maguire, Phil Jones, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Ashley Young, Danny Rose, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Midfielders: Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Raheem Sterling, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fabian Delph
Forwards: Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Superpower%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESean%20Penn%2C%20Aaron%20Kaufman%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
House-hunting
Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Westminster, London
- Camden, London
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Islington, London
- Kensington and Chelsea, London
- Highlands, Scotland
- Argyll and Bute, Scotland
- Fife, Scotland
- Tower Hamlets, London
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
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
MATCH INFO
Austria 2
Hinteregger (53'), Schopf (69')
Germany 1
Ozil (11')
Country-size land deals
US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mozn%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mohammed%20Alhussein%2C%20Khaled%20Al%20Ghoneim%2C%20Abdullah%20Alsaeed%20and%20Malik%20Alyousef%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Riyadh%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410%20million%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Raed%20Ventures%2C%20Shorooq%20Partners%2C%20VentureSouq%2C%20Sukna%20Ventures%20and%20others%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How to increase your savings
- Have a plan for your savings.
- Decide on your emergency fund target and once that's achieved, assign your savings to another financial goal such as saving for a house or investing for retirement.
- Decide on a financial goal that is important to you and put your savings to work for you.
- It's important to have a purpose for your savings as it helps to keep you motivated to continue while also reducing the temptation to spend your savings.
- Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
