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Sustainability

Sustainability and environmental business news from the Middle East. All the important stories, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

Sustainability overview

Sustainability news

Dubai’s waste management firm Averda weighs majority stake sale

Dubai-based Averda International, one of the largest waste management firms in the Middle East and North Africa, is planning to sell a stake in the business, sources familiar with the matter said. The company is working with Moelis & Co to arrange the transaction, which is expected to be a majority stake in the business, […]

Vegetation, Plant, Rainforest

Saudi climate chief says on track to meet net-zero pledge by 2060

Saudi Arabia will meet its net-zero pledge by 2060, although global technologies have not fully “matured”, Arab News reported, citing Saudi chief climate change negotiator Khalid Abuleif. He said that the kingdom is in a great position to meet the short- and long-term goals of 2030 and 2060. Abuleif stated that the country could achieve […]

Dispute over ‘loss and damage’ may extend talks for days

Backroom disagreements on what should have been the final day of Cop27 have ensured that talks would spill over into Saturday and possibly beyond. Delegates have for the last few days been predicting that the talks would be extended. It was only on Friday morning that the conference presidency released the first official draft of […]

Egyptian foreign minister and Cop27 president Sameh Shoukry, left, and United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres on what should be the penultimate day of the climate summit

‘Blame game’ and tension over lack of final proposal

Cop27 attendees are preparing for a long weekend as it appears increasingly likely that talks in Sharm el-Sheikh will be extended. Speaking on Thursday evening at a press conference that was due to begin the process of wrapping up the summit, Cop27 president Sameh Shoukry told reporters that “there are still a number of issues […]

New Egyptian fund to invest in projects issuing carbon certificates

Egypt has launched the first domestic fund to invest in projects that issue carbon certificates (EgyCop), Egypt Today newspaper reported. The Egyptian fund for investment in projects that issue EgyCOP has an authorised capital of EGP1 billion ($40.78 million). It funds projects of local companies that reduce emissions in the country and issues them internationally […]

UAE state fund acquires stake in Singapore’s AirCarbon Exchange

Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala Investment Company confirmed on Wednesday that it has acquired a strategic stake in Singapore-based AirCarbon Exchange (ACX). Two sources close to the matter had earlier told Reuters about the deal. AirCarbon in February this year partnered with Abu Dhabi’s financial freezone, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), to establish the first […]

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who won Brazil's presidential election in October, is meeting climate envoys and leaders in Egypt

Lula arrives at Cop27 to deliver message that ‘Brazil is back’

Bringing the message that “Brazil is back” in the fight against global warming, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrived at Cop27 in Egypt on Tuesday – his first foreign trip since his presidential election victory. Brazil’s president-elect planned to hold meetings with envoys from Washington and Beijing on Tuesday, an aide said, as he seeks […]

Cop27 sign in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

Sticking points slow crunch talks to agree final deal at Cop27

Government ministers and negotiators from nearly 200 countries began working towards a Cop27 final deal on Tuesday, with the summit host Egypt issuing assurances that the slow-moving talks remain on track. On the conference floor in Sharm El Sheikh, however, some delegates have begun to speculate that the UN talks could run over time into […]

$186bn needed for Mena to achieve Paris Agreement goals

The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) need an estimated $186 billion to help countries achieve their goals under the Paris Agreement, Vivek Pathak, director and global head for climate business at International Finance Corporation (IFC), told the UAE state-owned WAM news agency. Between 2020 and 2030, a green recovery in the region could generate […]

Factory, Building, Architecture

Saudi Arabia to establish carbon capture and storage hub

Oil giant Saudi Aramco and the Saudi energy ministry will establish a carbon capture and storage hub, Arab News reported.  After the announcement of the new project, Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that the kingdom could achieve its net-zero target before the stipulated target in 2060.  Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said […]

Saudi Arabia unveils three new climate action projects

Saudi Arabia’s minister of energy Prince Abdulaziz bin has announced three new projects, which will improve the kingdom’s national and regional climate action, Saudi Gazette reported. Speaking at the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) forum held on the sidelines of Cop27 in Sharm El Sheikh, the minister said that the kingdom is establishing the circular carbon […]

Slump in plastic bag usage as Dubai tackles carbon footprint

Plastic bag use has plummeted at UAE retail outlets operated by Majid Al Futtaim following the emirate’s introduction of a mandatory AED25 ($6.81) bag charge. In a small, but notable step towards reducing the UAE’s vast carbon footprint, Majid Al Futtaim said plastic bag use fell 85 percent in the three months since charges began […]

World Bank tells rich countries to give more cash for climate

The World Bank is ready to step up financing of action to tackle climate change in the world’s poorest countries, but needs fresh funds from wealthy donor countries to do so, its managing director of operations told Reuters. Axel van Trotsenburg made his comments on the sidelines of the Cop27 climate talks in Sharm El-Sheikh. […]

Sustainable standard setters close in on regulatory gap

Sustainability standard setter chief Emmanuel Faber said he was hopeful of reaching in the coming weeks a “big milestone” towards aligning the European Union’s (EU) corporate disclosures with his board’s global norms. Despite nearing agreement over how the work of his International Sustainability Standards Board will mesh with a similar set of EU rules being […]

UNDP chief says global economic crisis strangling progress for poor

Decades of development progress are at risk as economies are pushed backward by climate change losses, the COVID-19 economic fallout, a growing cost-of-living crisis, and soaring debt and inflation, the UN development chief said at Cop27 in Egypt. “We essentially document a regression – and regression that is virtually universal across the board,” said Achim […]

Activists demonstrate at the Sharm El Sheikh International Convention Centre during Cop27

US plan to sell carbon credits to private firms gets mixed reaction

With the opening speeches out of the way, day four of Cop27 was the first of the “thematic days”, as member parties moved into the back rooms out of view of the cameras to conduct the real negotiations. The biggest announcement of the day came via the US climate envoy, John Kerry. A new carbon […]

United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan at the UAE Pavilion during Cop27

Developing countries call for new taxes on oil and gas producers

By the end of the second full day of Cop27 the tone of the conference had been set. One after another, leaders of developing countries took to the plenary stage to voice their frustration and demand that rich nations offer more support to help combat the effects of climate change. After Barbadian prime minister Mia […]