A German military strategist would call it a "schwerpunkt" – the centre of gravity or the critical focal point. More people – some four billion – live inside a 3,300-kilometre radius circle centred on the small town of Mong Khet in Myanmar, than live outside it. This is the decisive area for the 21st century’s energy and climate geography.
This circle contains the first, second, fourth and fifth most populous countries in the world, namely India, China, Indonesia and Pakistan. From a geopolitical perspective, it contains a majority of adherents of three great world religions – Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism – as well as the secular philosophy of communism.
From a climate point of view, it produces more than half of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. It also accounts for 45 per cent of the world’s primary energy demand and 57 per cent of solar power capacity.
But with just 7 per cent of global oil production and 13 per cent of gas output, it is always destined to be a major fossil fuel importer.
The circle also hosts geopolitical flashpoints: the Korean peninsula, the competing claims of the littoral states to the South China Sea, Taiwan, regarded by Beijing as a breakaway province, the disputed Sino-Indian border, the important Strait of Malacca, and the perennially tense India-Pakistan relationship.
And within this is the majority of the world’s manufacturing capacity for clean energy technologies – solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles – mostly in China, but in the near future India, too.
There is also an increasing share of energy innovation, again in China but also in Japan and Taiwan. China dominates the mining and processing of rare earths, while Indonesia and, secondarily, the Philippines produce more than half the world’s nickel, crucial materials for electric motors, wind turbines and batteries.
It is no exaggeration to say that a liveable global climate, a stable energy market, depend much more on what happens within this circle over the next 70-odd years than on Washington, Brussels, Moscow or even the Gulf.
The GCC is well aware. Proximity to India makes it impossible to ignore: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just concluded his visit to the UAE and Qatar. Asia is the main destination for the Middle East’s oil and gas exports, and Saudi Aramco has invested heavily to boost its refining and petrochemical capacity in China and Malaysia.
In contrast, the West has not yet woken up to this reality. Of course, there are honourable exceptions. The International Energy Agency plans to start membership talks with India; it also has associate agreements with China, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.
The Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air provides invaluable insights into Chinese environmental policy.
But mainstream climate and energy opinion focuses far too much on developments in the US and Western Europe.
It seems to think that the goal of limiting global warming can be achieved solely by demonising oil and gas companies, imposing ever tougher emissions targets on Europe, and opposing more fossil-fuel production and transport projects. Such a lack of perspective ignores Asian needs, realities and opinions.
Many Asian countries suffer from terrible air quality, mostly because of pollution from coal burning and traffic, causing serious health problems. China has made significant progress in recent years in switching district heating systems and industry to gas.
India, so far, has not, and it now has one of the worst urban air quality globally. Simplistic and skewed calculations that claim gas is “worse for the climate” than coal because of methane leakage entirely ignores other pollutants.
Because of a relative lack of fossil-fuel resources – particularly oil and gas – versus consumption, Asian countries are acutely aware of their need for energy security. Japan and Taiwan are virtual island economies, while South Korea is a landlocked peninsula. All three are particularly vulnerable to any interruption.
They see the value of renewables and nuclear power in providing domestic self-sufficiency, but they also value long-term relations with reliable oil and gas providers.
For China, India and Indonesia, the situation is a bit different. They have abundant cheap domestic coal, which also has strong domestic political and business constituencies. The giant scale of their energy needs, and its rapid growth, mean that they need all forms of energy for now.
Gas will have to be cheap, and renewables will have to overcome problems of financing, project siting and grid access to make inroads into coal use.
For all of them, if they cannot obtain oil and natural gas from the US, Australia or from African projects backed by western funding, they will get it from the Middle East, Russia and Central Asia.
Asian countries will indeed suffer badly from climate change – it is one of the major factors that could prevent the 21st century from being the fabled “Chinese Century” or “Indian Century”.
They still maintain they have limited historic responsibility for emissions, a contention that is increasingly not true in the case of China. But western hectoring will not be constructive.
A more constructive approach will work on common interests. It will be pragmatic, recognising that partial progress on reducing emissions is better than a fruitless pursuit of perfection.
It will concentrate on supplying greater quantities of cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy, rather than restricting availability of disfavoured options. It will seek to combine disparate strengths in innovation, manufacturing, financing and project management to rapidly scale up low-carbon systems.
At a time of growing global conflict and tension, energy is a lever against rivals, while climate remains a rare bright spot of international co-operation. Solving the 21st century’s environmental and energy challenges centres on that Asian circle.
Robin M. Mills is chief executive of Qamar Energy and author of 'The Myth of the Oil Crisis'
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 2 (Mahrez 04', Ake 84')
Leicester City 5 (Vardy 37' pen, 54', 58' pen, Maddison 77', Tielemans 88' pen)
Man of the match: Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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Fight card
Preliminaries:
Nouredine Samir (UAE) v Sheroz Kholmirzav (UZB); Lucas Porst (SWE) v Ellis Barboza (GBR); Mouhmad Amine Alharar (MAR) v Mohammed Mardi (UAE); Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) v Spyro Besiri (GRE); Aslamjan Ortikov (UZB) v Joshua Ridgwell (GBR)
Main card:
Carlos Prates (BRA) v Dmitry Valent (BLR); Bobirjon Tagiev (UZB) v Valentin Thibaut (FRA); Arthur Meyer (FRA) v Hicham Moujtahid (BEL); Ines Es Salehy (BEL) v Myriame Djedidi (FRA); Craig Coakley (IRE) v Deniz Demirkapu (TUR); Artem Avanesov (ARM) v Badreddine Attif (MAR); Abdulvosid Buranov (RUS) v Akram Hamidi (FRA)
Title card:
Intercontinental Lightweight: Ilyass Habibali (UAE) v Angel Marquez (ESP)
Intercontinental Middleweight: Amine El Moatassime (UAE) v Francesco Iadanza (ITA)
Asian Featherweight: Zakaria El Jamari (UAE) v Phillip Delarmino (PHI)
RESULTS
6.30pm: Emirates Holidays Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Lady Snazz, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
7.05pm: Arabian Adventures Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Zhou Storm, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
7.40pm: Emirates Skywards Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Rich And Famous, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.15pm: Emirates Airline Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Rio Angie, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Emirates Sky Cargo (TB) Dh 92,500 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Kinver Edge, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
9.15pm: Emirates.com (TB) Dh 95,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Firnas, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
The Gentlemen
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant
Three out of five stars
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group C
Liverpool v Napoli, midnight
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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If you go...
Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).
Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule
1st Test July 26-30 in Galle
2nd Test August 3-7 in Colombo
3rd Test August 12-16 in Pallekele
Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
RESULT
Chelsea 2
Willian 13'
Ross Barkley 64'
Liverpool 0
Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
Arizona Iced Tea with lemon is one of those beverages, with one 240 millilitre serving offering up 23 grams of sugar - about six teaspoons.
A 680ml can of Arizona Iced Tea costs just Dh6.
Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Cologne v Union Berlin (5.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Hertha Berlin v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Freiburg (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Borussia Monchengladbach (8.30pm)
Sunday
Mainz v Augsburg (5.30pm)
Schalke v Bayer Leverkusen (8pm)
About Takalam
Date started: early 2020
Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech and wellness
Number of staff: 4
Funding to date: Bootstrapped
Results
3pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,400m, Winner: Lancienegaboulevard, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Fawzi Nass (trainer).
3.35pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Turf) 1,600m, Winner: Al Mukhtar Star, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
4.10pm: Handicap Dh165,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: Gundogdu, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.45pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 1,200m, Winner: Speedy Move, Sean Kirrane, Satish Seemar.
5.20pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Moqarrar, Dane O’Neill, Erwan Charpy.
5.55pm: Handicap Dh175,000 (T) 1,800m, Winner: Dolman, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
Tips for SMEs to cope
- Adapt your business model. Make changes that are future-proof to the new normal
- Make sure you have an online presence
- Open communication with suppliers, especially if they are international. Look for local suppliers to avoid delivery delays
- Open communication with customers to see how they are coping and be flexible about extending terms, etc
Courtesy: Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, which provides term finance and working capital finance to SMEs. Only SMEs that have been trading for two years are eligible for funding from Beehive.
The biog
Hobby: "It is not really a hobby but I am very curious person. I love reading and spend hours on research."
Favourite author: Malcom Gladwell
Favourite travel destination: "Antigua in the Caribbean because I have emotional attachment to it. It is where I got married."
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
THE SPECS
GMC Sierra Denali 1500
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Price: Dh232,500
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
