Crops grown at a farm in Abu Dhabi. 'We will make sure that Cop28 will be a game-changer for food systems,' said Mariam Al Mheiri, UAE Minister for Climate and the Environment. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
Crops grown at a farm in Abu Dhabi. 'We will make sure that Cop28 will be a game-changer for food systems,' said Mariam Al Mheiri, UAE Minister for Climate and the Environment. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
Crops grown at a farm in Abu Dhabi. 'We will make sure that Cop28 will be a game-changer for food systems,' said Mariam Al Mheiri, UAE Minister for Climate and the Environment. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
Crops grown at a farm in Abu Dhabi. 'We will make sure that Cop28 will be a game-changer for food systems,' said Mariam Al Mheiri, UAE Minister for Climate and the Environment. Khushnum Bhandari / The

Climate

Cop28

Funding for UAE-US farm climate project beats $10bn target

Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate aims to unite nations in cutting emissions

Adla Massoud
Adla Massoud
New York

May 08, 2023

  • English
  • Arabic

Funding for a UAE-US-led initiative to advance climate-friendly farming practices has grown to more than $13 billion, passing the $10 billion target set for Cop28, a US official said on Monday.

The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate, or Aim for Climate, was launched in 2021 and had achieved commitments of $8 billion by last November.

“Climate change continues to impact long-standing agricultural practices in every country and a strong global commitment is necessary to face the challenges of climate change head on and build more sustainable, equitable and resilient food systems,” said US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who is co-hosting this week's Aim for Climate summit in Washington.

He announced the latest funding figures alongside Mariam Al Mheiri, UAE Minister for Climate and the Environment, and former US vice president Al Gore.

The UAE is hosting the Cop28 climate change conference this November.

“We will make sure that Cop28 will be a game-changer for food systems,” Ms Al Mheiri said.

About $10 billion of the $13 billion investment has come from governments. The rest is from parties funding initiatives to support smallholder farmers, emerging technologies and methane reduction, a US Department of Agriculture representative said.

Ms Al Mheiri said that strengthening national and global food security through sustainable technology and innovation was one of the key pillars of the UAE’s National Food Security Strategy 2051.

“We know the numbers we know our food systems are broken,” she said. “We know there's lots to do on eradicating hunger. There's lots to do on enhancing global food security and to slash emissions when it comes to climate change.”

She reiterated the UAE's commitment to building a “solid foundation for international co-operation” to find solutions to various challenges facing global food and agricultural systems.

The UAE, she said, wants to continue to be food secure in the future.

“How can we waste less food? How can we have better nutrition?” she asked.

“How can we make sure that the next generation has the skills and the capacity to be able to look at growing food in harsh desert environments?”

Aim for Climate seeks to unite nations to cut agricultural emissions, which account for about 10 per cent to 12 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from sources such as livestock manure, machinery and fertiliser application, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Reuters contributed to this report

A worker picks vegetables grown inside a Sharjah greenhouse that produces year-round crops using smart and sustainable farming technologies. Reuters
A worker picks vegetables grown inside a Sharjah greenhouse that produces year-round crops using smart and sustainable farming technologies. Reuters

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.”

KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
On Women's Day
VEZEETA PROFILE

Date started: 2012

Founder: Amir Barsoum

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: HealthTech / MedTech

Size: 300 employees

Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)

Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC

So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?

Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
 

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  • 1. Lilian Calmejane (France / Direct Energie) 11
  • 2. Fabio Aru (Italy / Astana) 10
  • 3. Daniel Martin (Ireland / Quick-Step) 8
  • 4. Robert Gesink (Netherlands / LottoNL) 8
  • 5. Warren Barguil (France / Sunweb) 7
  • 6. Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) 6
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The fake news generation

288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year

11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general

31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate

63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.

Updated: May 08, 2023, 9:08 PM
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