Good morning, friends. It’s a quiet news day as we crawl closer to the weekend, but we have a couple of bits and pieces making ripples in the regional climate industry this morning.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- UK sinks GBP bns to develop nuclear plant: The UK is channeling an additional GBP 1.3 bn (c.USD 1.65 bn) toward establishment of its 3.2 GW Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk, raising total investments for the project to over GBP 2.6 bn. The UK government and the project’s developer EDF — which expects to make a final investment decision on the project later this year — aim to raise GBP 20 bn to build the plant, which once fully operational could generate enough clean energy to meet seven percent of national power demands over its planned 60-year lifecycle. The fresh financing package committed by the UK government makes it the project’s majority stakeholder.

The story made headlines in the international press: Reuters | The Financial Times | Bloomberg | BBC

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Construction of Egypt’s Dabaa’s fourth reactor kicks off: Russian President Vladimir Putinvirtually joined (watch, runtime: 32:22) President Abdel Fattah El Sisi yesterday for a ceremony marking the beginning of concrete pouring for the Dabaa nuclear power plant’s fourth and final reactor in Egypt. “Now all four power units of the El Dabaa nuclear power plant are under construction. This means that our Egypt site is becoming one of the two largest nuclear construction projects in the world,” Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev said, according to a press release (pdf).

REMEMBER- Rosatom was contracted in 2015 to handle the construction and provide fuel for Dabaa. It broke ground on the USD 28.75 bn project in July 2022. Construction work was set to begin in the second half of 2020 and completed by the fiscal year 2028-2029, but pandemic-related disruptions led to delays. Rosatom has signed 285 contracts worth USD 1.2 bn with more than 90 local companies for the construction of the plant, Likhachev said, adding that the plan will help increase Egypt’s GDP by over 1%.

#2- KSA and India partner on electricity interconnector: The Saudi cabinet has approved an MoU to develop a clean energy interconnector linking the kingdom’s electricity grid to India, SPA reports. The subsea transmission line will reportedly cost some USD 18 bn to build, Attaqa notes. Per the newly approved agreement, KSA will partner with India across the full green and low-carbon hydrogen value chains.

We knew this was coming: Saudi Arabia and India began talks on cooperation in green hydrogen with sources back in September, including discussion regarding plans to establish a subsea link between both countries.

India’s renewable goals: India aims to generate 50% of its electricity needs from renewable energy by 2030. India is also targeting 500 GW production capacity from renewables and a 45% slash in its emissions, offsetting about 1 bn tons of CO2. India estimates it will need around USD 10 tn by 2070 to reach carbon neutrality.

#3-93% of EU banks committed to decarbonization are misaligned with the bloc’s 2050 netzero target, threatening their balance sheets and exposing 70% of the banks to legal and reputational risks, a new report (pdf) by the European Central Bank (ECB) revealed yesterday. The ECB has given banks operating in the bloc until the end of 2024 to meet decarbonization disclosures, with plans to instate capital requirements for firms failing to report their climate action efforts, Reuters notes. The report surveyed 95 banking institutions covering 75% of EU loans.

And 90% of the banks are exposed to elevated energy transition risks: In its new report, the ECB quantifies the most notable energy transition risks across the credit portfolios of the banks surveyed, concluding that 90% of the banks are exposed to transition risks. 13 firms had over EUR5 bn in exposures across six key transition sectors, Reuters added.

REMEMBER- France is the EU’s top “carbon bomb” supporter: French banking groups have shelled out USD 154 bn since the 2015 Paris Agreement toward financing the world’s 425 largest fossil fuel extraction projects — also known as carbon bombs — with the country’s top banking groups BNP Paribas, BPCE Group, Crédit Agricole, and Société Générale investing some USD 17.8 bn in big oil in 2022 alone.

IN OTHER EU NEWS–EU carbon prices aren’t faring well: A new Reuters poll of nine analysts has cut forecasts for EU carbon prices from 2024 to 2026 on the back of weak industrial demand for power plants to an average of EUR 74.11 per CO2 metric ton (MT) this year, EUR 83.31 in 2025, and EUR 100.13 in 2026 The 2024 forecast is down 11.3% from a previous Reuters survey in October, while the 2025 projections fell 6.3%, and the 2026 numbers are also down 2.8%.

Why is this an issue? Last month, the International Monetary Fund called for raising the trading price of carbon in efforts to incentivize the world’s biggest polluters to accelerate their decarbonization efforts. Raising the price of carbon can help collect alternative funds for climate action without drowning developing countries in green debt, the IMF said at the time, adding that the price of carbon needs to more than double to average at least USD 75 / ton by 2030 for global climate goals to succeed.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The UAE will host the Management and Sustainability of Water Resources Conference from Monday, 26 February to Wednesday 28 February in Dubai. Water availability in arid and semiarid regions, global water issues, and future water and environmental challenges are all on the agenda.

Saudi Arabia will host the International Conference on Sand and Dust Storms in the Arabian Peninsula from Monday, 4 March to Wednesday, 6 March in Riyadh. The conference will address regional challenges caused by sand and dust storms and discuss monitoring systems, mitigation strategies, economic and infrastructural impacts, and more.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

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