id: 2024-10-31-05:02:45:777t

Good morning, friends. It’s a fairly busy news day today, with a slew of clean energy agreements from Morocco and Saudi Arabia’s Acwa. Plus, we finally have some promising developments coming out of COP16. PLUS: We break down Turkey’s 2035 renewable energy roadmap.

^^ We have the details on these stories and more in the news well, below.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- There’s no single story dominating the conversation today, but news of a new coalition setting standards for debt-for-nature swaps at COP16 has garnered some ink. The coalition — which includes The Nature Conservancy, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Conservation International, and the World Wildlife Fund — will aim to establish a pipeline of shared projects that could set up the biodiversity finance instrument market for substantial growth. The group was announced earlier this week.

Why is this important? The instrument could tap into up to USD 100 bn in nature and climate finance, which would be helpful to the 60% of developing countries that often find their nature conservation efforts hindered by debt. “What this scheme tries to do is work with governments who have signed up to clear commitments for 30×30 and also have debt that needs to be converted,” Nature Conservancy CEO Jennifer Morris said at an event on the sidelines of the biodiversity summit in Colombia.

SOUND SMART- Debt-for-nature swaps are a public biodiversity finance product in which governments refinance debt to then put it towards conservation, but the instrument remains at a low volume. Only two major agreements involving Ecuador and El Salvador — marked at USD 1.6 bn and USD 1 bn — were reported before, respectively. They provide a “win-win-win for governments, local communities, and nature by reducing a country’s overall debt burden, providing resources for economic development for local communities, and by unlocking funding to conserve a country’s most vital ecosystems, ” Wildlife Conservation Society’s interim leader Robb Menzi said.

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

HAPPENING TODAY-

Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative Conference is set to conclude today. The conference gathers entrepreneurs, political leaders, and decision-makers to explore investment options in AI, sustainability, energy, and more.

COP16 WATCH-

Colombia + Costa Rica sign biodiversity fund agreement: Colombia and Costa Rica announced a plan to start a fund aimed at the protection of the Chocó Biogeographic Region, a Colombia Foreign Ministry statement said. The area — which also includes Panama and Peru — is described by the UN as having the most plant biodiversity on earth, with 25% of its species not found elsewhere, and is currently facing the harms of deforestation, climate change, and illegal mining and logging, The City Paper Bogota reports. The fund, announced at COP16, will set a “new benchmark for regional cooperation in biodiversity protection,” Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said.

Who will be involved? The two countries are looking to involve the CAF Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean as a fund administrator and will soon present the fund to neighboring governments to try and garner support, Murillo added.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Emirates Driving to back Vinfast: Emirates Driving will also lead a consortium of Emirati investors to provide at least USD 1 bn in funding to Vietnamese automotive company Vinfast, Bloomberg and Reuters report, citing sources. No specific timeline has been set up for the disbursement of these funds, the source said, while the Vingroup statement only confirmed that Emirates Driving will be leading a consortium investing in the company.

What we know: The two companies will work towards developing electric vehicle infrastructure, driver training, and road safety initiatives to support VinFast’s growth efforts, according to Vingroup’s statement.

#2- Ewec receives three proposals for Khazna solar plant: The Emirates Water and Electricity Company (Ewec) has received three proposals to set up the 1.5 GW Khazna Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Independent Power Project (IPP), according to a press release. Ewec had received 27 expressions of interest, of which 19 qualified for the Request for Proposals (RFP) last April, and the final power purchase agreement is set to be inked in 1Q 2025. The plant will generate enough electricity for some 160k homes across the UAE.

Who’s in so far? The proposals came from France’s Engie, a consortium of the UK’s EDF Renewables and Korea Western Power (Kowepco), and a consortium of Jinko Power and Jera. The chosen developer will construct, finance, operate, and maintain the plant. It will also keep a 40% stake, with the rest to be owned by the Abu Dhabi government.

About the solar farm: The Khazna Solar Photovoltaic Power Project is a greenfield solar power project with a generation capacity of 1.5 GW, which is similar in scale and production capacity to Al-Dhafra Solar PV and Al-Ajban Solar PV. Once fully operational, the project is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by over 2.4 mn tonnes per year, which is equivalent to removing about 470k cars from the road.

#3- Mubadala-owned Spanish oil company Cepsa was rebranded as Moeve to signify its new focus on low-carbon operations, Reuters reports, citing CEO Maarten Wetselaar. The company is currently investing EUR 8 bn to transition towards sustainable energy and mobility. These transitional steps include a partnership with Schwarz Group’s environmental arm, PreZero Spain, to build a waste recycling facility to produce 2G biofuels and circular chemical products.

#4- Saudi’s Desert Technologies to expand solar manufacturing capacity in Saudi: KSA-based renewable energy solutions company Desert Technologies is establishing a USD 200 mn factory in Jeddah to produce solar panels and cells, according to a company statement. The factory will produce equipment with solar capacity of 5 GW per year, marking an increase from the company’s current annual manufacturing capacity of 110 MW, reports Bloomberg.

Desert tech is boosting its capacity: The company said last year that it plans to raise its production capacity to 4 GW yearly and inked an MoU with Elsewedy Electric to boost its exports of renewable energy products to African markets.

#5- KSA defends emissions record + renewables efforts, but will maintain oil capacity: Saudi Arabia will maintain its crude oil capacity at 12.3 mn barrels per day (bbl / d), even as it advances renewable energy projects, Arab News quotes Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman as saying at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh. The minister said that the country’s record of increasing energy efficiency and renewables capacity in a very short amount of time makes them confident and “not ashamed” of their emissions record despite plans to sustain oil production.

REMEMBER- The Kingdom aims to produce 50% of its power from renewables by 2030 and is leading initiatives in hydrogen and circular carbon economy practices, with 44 GW of renewable capacity currently installed.

#6- Aramco’s planned 9 mn carbon storage project in Jubail will begin production by 2027 or 2028, putting it on track to be the world’s largest project of its kind, Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said at the forum. The accelerated carbon capture and sequestration project, which Aramco signed the agreement for back in November 2022, will see around 6 mn tons of CO2 coming from Aramco, while the rest will come from industrial sources. Scotland-based consulting and engineering firm Wood finalized the front-end engineering and design (FEED) scope for the first phase in June .

DANGER ZONE-

Around 38% of the world’s tree species are at risk of extinction, according to the first-ever Global Tree Assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). With over 16.4k of the 47.3k assessed tree species threatened, trees now represent more than a quarter of all species on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species — the world’s most comprehensive list on the conservation status of animal, fungi, and plant species. Island trees face the highest risk due to deforestation, invasive species, and climate change. In South America, home to the greatest diversity of trees, 3.3k out of the continent’s 13.6k species included in the survey are threatened.

More is on the line: The IUCN Red List update also highlights the deteriorating status of the Western European hedgehog, whose population dropped by around 16-33%, effectively changing its listing from a species of Least Concern to Near Threatened. Conservation efforts, such as habitat corridors — designated areas that connect wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures — and reduced pesticide use, are essential to protect this species.

What can be done? The report calls for conservation strategies, including habitat protection, restoration, and ex situ conservation, which involves preservation efforts under human supervision in environments outside a species’ natural habitats. Community-led initiatives have already shown positive outcomes in regions like Cuba, Juan Fernández islands, Madagascar, and Fiji. It also emphasizes the interconnectedness of tree conservation with broader biodiversity and climate resilience, urging action with a synergetic impact. For example, the report highlights that tree planting — as a fix to climate change — needs to be done better by diversifying the species used and focusing on threatened ones.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Egypt will host the World Urban Forum from Monday, 4 November to Friday, 8 November, in Cairo. The forum, established by the UN and one of its largest non-legislative events, will center around the effect of rapid urbanization on communities, economies, climate change, and policies and will bring together government representatives, academics, business people, urban planners, and more.

South Africa will host the Critical Mineral Africa Summit from Wednesday, 6 November to Thursday, 7 November, in Cape Town. The summit aims to attract critical minerals investment to the continent and will be held alongside African Energy Week. The summit will be held in partnership with the Southern African-German Chamber of Commerce Partners representing Germany’s increasing investments in southern Africa.

Azerbaijan will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties (COP29) from Monday, 11 November to Friday, 22 November, in Baku. The annual conference brings together governments, world leaders, and other stakeholders to advance the Paris Agreement and negotiate ways to fight climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s objective is to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”

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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