CANCUN, MEXICO // When Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, the Minister of Environment and Water, arrived at the UN climate change conference on Sunday, he joined the largest delegation the UAE has sent to the annual negotiations.
Dr Sultan al Jaber, the Special Envoy on Energy and Climate Change, will lead the 30-member team until Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, takes over when he arrives later in the week.
Ministers and senior officials from around the world have been arriving in the Mexican resort city ahead of today's start of the high-level segment of the climate change talks.
As with his foreign counterparts, Sheikh Abdullah will take over from expert teams that have already been in Cancun negotiating for a week. The summit began on November 29 and concludes on Friday.
Ministers must still review a number of draft decisions that their delegations agreed to on Saturday evening. Among them, an agreement seems near on making carbon capture and storage projects eligible for funding under the Clean Development Mechanism, a UN clean technology funding scheme outlined in the Kyoto Protocol.
This move would benefit the UAE and other oil producers, but has in the past been actively opposed by states such as Brazil.
At the heart of the debates is the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate global warming, rising sea levels and extreme weather. Most countries agreed to join the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change more than a decade ago, later adding stricter, legally binding measures through the Kyoto Protocol. However, the protocol only binds 37 industrialised countries to cut emissions, and it expires in 2012.
The main stumbling blocks to reaching a replacement agreement have been tensions between developed and developing countries, as well as resistance from the US to commit to reducing its own emissions.
While a new climate change treaty was not expected in Cancun, agreement on some interim measures seemed likely, said Patricia Espinosa, the Mexican foreign minister who is presiding over the Cancun conference.
"One week into the process, the conditions are in place to reach a broad and balanced package of decisions that leads to an era of increasingly effective global action on climate change," she said, while addressing delegates at an informal meeting.
Efforts were being made to ensure this year's meeting avoided a repeat of last year's summit in Copenhagen, Ms Espinosa said.
That meeting ended with little in the way of real progress when the conference failed to adopt the Copenhagen Accord, a document designed to be the basis of a new climate change agreement. One reason for the failure was that the deal, in an attempt to speed up compromise, was negotiated secretly by only a small number of powerful states.
On Sunday, Ms Espinosa reiterated the host country's commitment to "transparency and inclusiveness".
"Once again, I must state that there is no hidden text and no secret negotiations," she said. "The Mexican presidency will continue to work with full transparency and according to established United Nations procedures."
Sunday also saw a non-profit organisation co-founded by the Virgin Atlantic boss Richard Branson launch a public website outlining the relative energy efficiency of almost every large ocean-going vessel. The Carbon War Room website, www.shippingefficiency.org, offers information on 60,000 marine vessels such as container ships, tankers, cargo ships, ferries and cruise ships.
The rating uses methodology developed by the International Maritime Organisation and information from international ship registers. Each year, shipping produces almost a gigaton of carbon emissions, more than the total emissions of Germany.
vtodorova@thenational.ae
MO
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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.”
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule
- 1st Test India won by 304 runs at Galle
- 2nd Test India won by innings and 53 runs at Colombo
- 3rd Test August 12-16 at Pallekele
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets