The need to speed up energy transition

The UAE is hosting its annual big-ticket event, the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW), a global initiative whose objective is to speed up sustainable development without sacrificing economic, social and environmental progress.

Now in its 15th year, the talks in the UAE capital this time around take on an added significance, as the country prepares to host Cop28, the UN climate change conference, later this year, taking the torch from Egypt. In the lead-up to Cop28 then, it is natural that a push for climate action – which, among other things, includes a more urgent transition to renewable energy – is firmly at the top of the country's national agenda.

Energy transition, the ultimate aim of which is a move to renewables, is one of the most critical components of climate mitigation. Today, it features more prominently in the global conversation around climate change, with more than 190 countries announcing their commitment to the 2015 climate pact – better known as the Paris Agreement – the main goal of which is to limit global warming to well below 2°C, and aim for 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels.

One would hope that this season of dialogues results in widespread consensus

The UAE has the advantage of being an early mover on renewable energy, having started work nearly two decades ago. On Saturday, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, President-designate of the Cop28 and the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, reaffirmed the country's support for the work being done by the International Renewable Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organisation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future.

Dr Al Jaber, who is also managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc and chairman of Masdar, said the Emirates has invested $50 billion in renewable energy, on six continents. “Over the next seven years, we will need to more than triple renewable generating capacity worldwide. The world must move much faster than ever before.”

In today’s environment, where there is indeed a need for a swifter and more concerted effort to address the climate crisis, multi-stakeholder climate talks also need to map out strategies on how to adapt to unexpected developments, whether they are conflicts, contagions or economic downturns. One would, therefore, hope that this season of dialogues – being held amid a host of challenges from the war in Ukraine to the possibility of a global recession – results in widespread consensus on the ways to speed up energy transition.

In the UAE, the installation of renewables over the next five years is set to account for more than 90 per cent of all global electricity capacity additions, Mohamed Al Ramahi, the chief executive of Masdar, wrote in The National, citing a recent report by the International Energy Agency. This echoes the words of US climate envoy John Kerry, who at an ADSW discussion, along with acknowledging a slow pace of change, called renewables "potentially the most exciting economic transformation".

Discussions such as the ones being held at this week’s ADSW in Abu Dhabi, and the World Economic Forum in Davos, are crucial for planet’s various stakeholders to progress towards an agreement on the bold changes required to address the climate crisis. Cop28 will be instrumental in getting to a transformative stage. If indeed these summits can get the ball rolling towards such a consensus, a major breakthrough will have been made in resolving humankind's greatest challenge.

The President's Cake

Director: Hasan Hadi

Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem

Rating: 4/5

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David Haye record

Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4

Recipe: Spirulina Coconut Brothie

Ingredients
1 tbsp Spirulina powder
1 banana
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (full fat preferable)
1 tbsp fresh turmeric or turmeric powder
½ cup fresh spinach leaves
½ cup vegan broth
2 crushed ice cubes (optional)

Method
Blend all the ingredients together on high in a high-speed blender until smooth and creamy.

Know your cyber adversaries

Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.

Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.

Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.

Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.

Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.

Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.

Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.

Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.

Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.

Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.

Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face

The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.

The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.

Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.

"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.

Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.

The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.