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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

Nio electric cars. Abu Dhabi's CYVN has invested in the company Video length: 04:21

Why Gulf governments keep investing in EVs

Oil-based economies need a Plan B – something they can turn to when crude markets are troubled. Gulf governments are using electric vehicles as that hedge, according to Kevin Chalhoub, CEO of EV Lab. “When oil won’t go well, probably electric cars will go well,” he says. “It’s a very exciting strategy. The Middle East […]

Riham ElGizy, CEO of Saudi Arabia carbon trading market RVCMC

Saudi Arabia’s carbon market to finance climate projects

Saudi Arabia has launched a carbon trading market that will help provide financing for climate projects.  The Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company’s (RVCMC) voluntary carbon market exchange platform has more than 2.5 million tonnes of carbon credits for auction, it said in a statement. Buyers can obtain carbon credits from 17 climate projects from around […]

An Emirates plane refueling. The UAE wants 1 percent of its jet fuel to be locallly produced SAF by 2031

Fujairah to provide 150m litres of ‘green’ aviation fuel 

The expansion of a biofuel facility in the UAE will provide nearly 10 percent of the world’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), the project’s operators have claimed. Mercantile and Maritime Group, an energy and logistics company specialising in the physical trading of oil and gas, announced on Tuesday that its facility in Fujairah will be expanded […]

Morocco's King Mohammed VI and French President Emmanuel Macron sign documents in Rabat: Macron’s recent visit saw a thawing of political relations

Macron’s Morocco trip the catalyst for $11bn in deals

France and Morocco have announced a series of deals, from railways to phosphates to renewables, worth up to $11 billion during a state visit last week by Emmanuel Macron, his first to the north African kingdom since becoming president in 2017.  The 22 deals followed French recognition of Morocco’s claims to the disputed Western Sahara […]

The United Nations climate change conference Cop29 is being held in in Baku, Azerbaijan

US and EU leaders to skip Cop29 climate summit

World leaders from major economies including the United States, the European Union and Brazil are planning to miss this year’s United Nations climate change summit (Cop29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will not attend the Cop29 climate summit because of political developments in Brussels, a commission spokesperson told Reuters on […]

The 44.01 team. Together with Adnoc the company mineralised 10 tonnes of CO2 in Fujairah in under 100 days

Adnoc and Oman’s 44.01 scale up carbon-to-rock project

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Omani company 44.01 have announced plans to scale up their carbon-to-rock project in the emirate of Fujairah following the successful completion of a pilot initiative. Muscat-based startup 44.01 – named after the molecule mass for CO2 – uses technology to accelerate a natural process in which carbon dioxide […]

UAE energy minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said the UAE is a model for an ambitious and practical transition to clean energy

UAE to invest $54bn to meet sustainable energy goals

The UAE plans to invest up to AED200 billion ($54.4 billion) to meet sustainable energy demand over the next six years, minister of energy and infrastructure Suhail Al Mazrouei has said. The move intends to “decarbonise economy and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050”, the UAE state-run Wam news agency reported. “Our efforts to diversify the […]

Conventional steel production accounts for 8 percent of global carbon emissions, something the UAE hopes to abate with green hydrogen

UAE green steel project brushes off hydrogen concerns

The UAE has completed a pilot programme looking into the use of green hydrogen to decarbonise the steel industry. UAE steel company Emsteel and renewable energy major Masdar joined forces to produce “green” steel despite increasing concerns over cost, regulations, demand and scalability of the clean energy source. Conventional steel production accounts for around 8 […]

Emirates Global Aluminium engineers at the company's Al Taweelah refinery. EGA sells its green aluminium to European car makers

EU carbon tariff opens door to green GCC manufacturers

Europe’s decision to place a tariff on a selected group of carbon-intensive imports may offer a competitive advantage to Gulf manufacturers who are investing in carbon-reducing technologies, industry observers believe. By decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors, GCC countries can become the European Union’s privileged trade partners, because producers with lower carbon emissions will get better access to […]

While the ambition is there, long-term decarbonisation of the building industry is needed to reduce the carbon footprint of cement

‘Green’ cement falling short of meeting climate goals

Construction has become as much a part of the Gulf landscape as the desert. But it is also one of the major contributors to carbon dioxide emissions, a key driver of climate change.  GCC governments and developers, particularly in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, are pushing to find alternatives to traditional concrete and its basic […]

Some of Abu Dhabi's mangroves, which absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The UAE is the third-highest emitter in the Middle East, according to the IEA

UAE law could make emissions reporting mandatory

The UAE has introduced a new climate law, set to take effect next year, as part of its broader push to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.  Experts told AGBI the federal decree on the reduction of climate change effects is expected to have significant near-term implications for many businesses, potentially making it mandatory for […]

Fatih Birol, the IEA’s managing director, said that policy incentives allow the Middle East to take advantage of the cost-competitiveness of solar power Mena Middle East

Middle East on track to triple renewables capacity

Middle East and North African countries are on track to triple their renewable capacity by 2030, mainly due to expansion of solar photovoltaic projects, the International Energy Agency has said. Renewables are forecast to increase from 53GW in 2023 to almost 150GW by the end of the decade, in which solar PV is expected to […]

Farmers harvesting cocoa in Amankwaatia village, Ghana. The cocoa industry employs 17% of Ghana's workforce

UAE pledges $30m for Ghana’s biodiversity push

The UAE and Ghana have signed a $30 million partnership for nature-based community development and climate initiatives. The agreement covers six areas of investment, including biodiversity corridors, which allow animals to travel from one patch of native forest to another, reforestation and agroecology – sustainable farming that works with nature. The partnership aims to deliver […]

Person, Worker, Clothing Spectro Alloys is a secondary foundry alloy maker in the US, producing 110,000 tonnes of aluminium ingots per year

EGA buys majority stake in US aluminium recycler

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the biggest non-oil industrial company in the UAE, has acquired an 80 percent stake in US-based aluminium recycling company Spectro Alloys Corporation. The owner-managers of Spectro will hold 20 percent. The funding will be in line with EGA’s green finance framework, launched in June, to support decarbonisation projects and enable the […]

A student studies for his high school certificate exams at the Library of Alexandria during the power-off time that the government applied to overcome the overload amid a heatwave, as Egyptians experience frequent power cuts after the government said the lack of natural gas supplies feeding the country's electricity grid has fueled the crisis, in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, Egypt, June 26, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

Egypt looks to Gulf investors to end power blackouts

Egypt’s energy blackouts have created new opportunities for Gulf investors, as the cash-strapped Cairo government tries to end the crisis and plug the gap in its electricity supply before next summer. Prime minister Mostafa Madbouly announced on September 19 that there would be no more power cuts over the coming period, potentially marking an end […]

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai. Altérra aims to catalyse the investment of $250 billion of private capital by 2030

Altérra-backed climate fund raises $2.4bn

A climate-focused fund backed by Altérra – a $30 billion UAE-based climate investment company – has raised $2.4 billion, nearly half of its target, to support clean energy projects across emerging markets.   Launched at Cop28 in Dubai last year, the catalytic transition fund includes a foundational $1 billion commitment from Altérra. NYSE-listed Brookfield Asset Management […]

A floating solar plant in Brazil – 10,500 panels sit on the surface of the Billings reservoir in Sao Paulo. Masdar is on the hunt for solar and wind projects

Masdar ‘on the lookout’ for deals in China, says CFO

Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s state-owned clean energy company, is looking to acquire assets in China as part of its strategy to expand its portfolio of renewable energy projects. Mazin Khan, its chief financial officer, told AGBI that “macroeconomic conditions, with high interest rates and renewable players looking for capital” were opening the door for mergers and […]

Egypt's Financial Regulatory Authority is overseeing the carbon trading market in partnership with the stock exchange. Seven Egyptian brokerage firms have applied for licences

Egypt launches Africa into carbon trading market

The first three trades were made on Egypt’s new carbon trading platform on Tuesday, the first of its kind in Africa. Two local food companies, Daltex and ISIS Organic, became the first Egyptian buyers of the instruments, purchasing a combined 2,000 carbon credits. Each credit represents a tonne of carbon reduced or removed from the […]