The Red Sea Development Company, developer of the mega-tourism project on Saudi Arabia’s west coast, is exploring more sustainable ways for visitors to fly into the ultra-luxury destination, including using hydrogen-fuelled seaplanes to access its islands in the future, as part of conservation efforts, its chief executive said.
The company is also looking into more immediately available options for greener travel through carbon sequestration and use of sustainable aviation fuels on flights serving its international airport, which will run entirely on renewable energy, John Pagano said at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh on Wednesday.
Together, these measures are expected to save 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide that would otherwise by emitted each year, doubling to 1 million tons of carbon reductions when factoring in the adjacent mega-tourism project Amaala, said Mr Pagano, who is chief executive of both government-backed companies.
“We're not just a travel destination, but an incubator of ideas, a centre of learning,” he said.
The large-scale projects being developed by companies such as Amaala and TRSDC are part of the kingdom's efforts to diversify and cut its dependence on oil revenue. Development of non-oil sectors such as tourism are key planks of the kingdom's Vision 2030 economic transformation agenda.
As part of its regenerative tourism push, TRSDC and Amaala are targeting a 30 per cent net conservation benefit over the next two decades across the entire area of the projects, Mr Pagano said.
“What that means is that those beautiful mangroves and coral reefs will be more plentiful in years to come, enabling biodiversity to flourish,” Mr Pagano said.
The company is working with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology to grow coral in a lab to be put back into the sea and is working on a tagging programme to boost the population of the critically-endangered hawksbill turtle.
“Sustainability is no longer a nice-to-have, it's an absolute necessity,” Mr Pagano told the forum.
In addition to its pledge to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2060, Saudi Arabia also plans to more than double its target of reducing annual carbon emissions to 278 million tonnes by 2030. This is up from a previous target of 130m tonnes.
The kingdom's pledge to reach net-zero emissions by 2060 covers its domestic emissions and does not extend to carbon dioxide released from use of its crude products across the world.
TRSDC project is expected to welcome its first guests by the end of 2022, when the international airport and first hotels are due to open.
The Middle East's travel and tourism sector is forecast to grow 27.1 per cent this year – slightly below the global average of 30.7 per cent – and 28 per cent in 2022, the World Travel and Tourism Council industry forum said in a report on Wednesday. This comes as borders re-open to international travellers as Covid-19 restrictions loosen.
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
RESULT
Manchester City 1 Sheffield United 0
Man City: Jesus (9')
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
ORDER OF PLAY ON SHOW COURTS
Centre Court - 4pm (UAE)
Gael Monfils (15) v Kyle Edmund
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Magdalena Rybarikova
Dusan Lajovic v Roger Federer (3)
Court 1 - 4pm
Adam Pavlasek v Novak Djokovic (2)
Dominic Thiem (8) v Gilles Simon
Angelique Kerber (1) v Kirsten Flipkens
Court 2 - 2.30pm
Grigor Dimitrov (13) v Marcos Baghdatis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Christina McHale
Milos Raonic (6) v Mikhail Youzhny
Tsvetana Pironkova v Caroline Wozniacki (5)
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
