UAE ramps up efforts on path to net-zero emissions

The UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment hosted a special event to accelerate the country’s journey to net-zero emissions by 2050.

The session, held as part of the country's National Dialogue for Climate Ambition, highlighted the gaps in climate finance for decarbonisation of the economy and urged everyone — particularly in private-sector financial entities — to increase green finance to support the UAE’s vision to build a sustainable economy, the ministry said.

The dialogue, an initiative led by the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, aims to promote climate action through stronger collaboration, including with the private sector.

It is a series of industry-specific assemblies in various sectors aimed at raising climate ambitions in the nation’s journey to net zero, which means not adding to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The session was attended by Mariam Al Mheiri, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment. Photo: Ministry of Climate Change and Environment

This session, on Monday, was attended by Mariam Al Mheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, and brought together 100 participants from the banking, insurance, investment, financial services and consulting sectors and various ministries.

Coming only months before the UAE hosts the UN climate summit Cop28, Ms Al Mheiri emphasised the importance of collaboration to raise ambition for climate finance, which is important to implement the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement. Climate finance is crucial in funding renewable power such as wind or solar.

Agreed in 2015 and signed by about 200 countries, the Paris climate accord aims to limit global temperature rises to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels, and to keep them “well below” 2.0ºC. How countries are implementing the accord and what more needs to be done will be discussed at Cop28 in what is known as a "global stocktake".

World must unite for climate fight

"One of the key elements of UAE’s vision for Cop28 is to raise ambition and collective action towards mitigation [cutting emissions], adaptation [coping with climate change], loss and damage and climate finance," said Ms Al Mheiri.

The event brought together 100 participants from the banking, insurance, investment, financial services and consulting sectors and various ministries. Photo: Ministry of Climate Change and Environment

"The UAE believes scaling up climate finance is crucial for system-wide transformation, and this can be achieved through strong partnerships that will support the nation's journey to net zero by 2050."

She added: "The participation of all sectors is essential in tackling the challenge, with perceived risks in green investments, such as a relatively long payback period, hindering green finance investments. These perceptions must be addressed, with the UAE demonstrating to the world that investing in green projects is an investment in our future. Together, we must create new financial products and services that promote sustainability and resilience and work towards a strategy that aligns with the interests of all stakeholders."

Ms Al Mheiri pointed to the UAE's successes in clean energy projects such as Masdar City and Noor Abu Dhabi Solar Park. She noted the significant green finance behind Etihad Rail, which will transform the UAE's transportation sector and reduce the UAE’s CO2 emissions by up to 2.2 million tonnes annually.

"With environmental, social and governance (ESG) emerging as the cornerstone for responsible business, government entities and the private sector, including the finance industry, can rally their efforts to raise ambition for climate finance," said Ms Al Mheiri.

"Furthermore, investors and financial markets increasingly demand an effective ESG plan and a path to net-zero carbon emissions as part of their analysis process to identify material risks and growth opportunities.”

Panellists at Monday's event included Alexandros Severis and Girish Narula from Intercontinental Exchange, Shargiil Bashir from First Abu Dhabi Bank, Zoe Knight from HSBC, Faisal Al Shimmari from Mashreq Intercontinental Exchange, and Oliver Phillips from Standard Chartered Bank.

Cop28 takes place at Expo City Dubai from November 30 to December 12.

RESULTS

Bantamweight:
Zia Mashwani (PAK) bt Chris Corton (PHI)

Super lightweight:
Flavio Serafin (BRA) bt Mohammad Al Khatib (JOR)

Super lightweight:
Dwight Brooks (USA) bt Alex Nacfur (BRA)

Bantamweight:
Tariq Ismail (CAN) bt Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)

Featherweight:
Abdullatip Magomedov (RUS) bt Sulaiman Al Modhyan (KUW)

Middleweight:
Mohammad Fakhreddine (LEB) bt Christofer Silva (BRA)

Middleweight:
Rustam Chsiev (RUS) bt Tarek Suleiman (SYR)

Welterweight:
Khamzat Chimaev (SWE) bt Mzwandile Hlongwa (RSA)

Lightweight:
Alex Martinez (CAN) bt Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR)

Welterweight:
Jarrah Al Selawi (JOR) bt Abdoul Abdouraguimov (FRA)

Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts

Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.

The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.

Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.

More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.

The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.

Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:

November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.

May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.

February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.

December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.

July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.

May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.

New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.

Keep it fun and engaging

Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.

“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.

His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.

He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.

pakistan Test squad

Azhar Ali (capt), Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Yasir Shah, Usman Shinwari