Mubadala Petroleum recorded a 25 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the last three years as it aligned its goals with the UAE's move to address climate change.
The company, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi's sovereign fund Mubadala Investment Company, reduced emissions by 4 per cent in 2020 despite pandemic headwinds, Mubadala Petroleum said in its 2020 Annual Sustainability Report, which detailed the company's impact on key environment, social and governance (ESG) parameters across its portfolio of assets.
“Sustainability has always been central to our approach, but in 2020, when the world faced unprecedented challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our corporate values and focus on sustainability were critical in enabling our resilience," Mansoor Al Hamed, chief executive at Mubadala Petroleum, said.
"This report highlights the significant progress we are making on key focus areas such as emissions and lowering our environmental footprint, while also supporting the energy transition towards a lower carbon future by maintaining a gas-biased portfolio of assets across 10 countries globally."
ESG standards gauge how a company serves its employees, shareholders and the environment. They have been widely adopted by companies across the world as investors demand more transparency. The Covid-19 pandemic has heightened awareness about sustainability and have prompted more companies to commit to ESG principles.
Around 87 per cent of executives polled around the world said that ESG norms are part of their core objectives following the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a global survey commissioned by Abu Dhabi's clean energy company Masdar earlier this year. Around 525 executives leading businesses with over $250 million in revenue were polled for the report.
Eighty five per cent of those surveyed also viewed Covid-19 as a "wake-up call" for sustainability.
Mubadala Petroleum said it has registered more than 5.7 million working hours with zero lost time incidents and zero fatalities since its inception. It has also increased its female representation among employees by 6 per cent as part of its push to diversify workforce.
Natural gas accounted for around 62 per cent of Mubadala Petroleum's overall production in 2020 and is expected to grow further in the near term, the report said. The company said it has transformed from a "primarily oil-weighted portfolio" within the South-east Asia to include more gas assets in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
"In Malaysia, our foundational Pegaga development project has allowed us to prove operatorship capabilities from exploration to development of a large-scale gas project, with production start-up targeted for Q1 2022," the report said.
Mubadala Petroluem manages assets and operations across 10 countries with a primary geographic focus on the Middle East and North Africa, Russia and South-east Asia. Its assets in the Mena region span Egypt and Oman. It also manages the interests of its shareholder in the Dolphin gas project in the region.
"Importantly in this region, we have cemented our footprint in world-class gas assets, which meet a significant portion of domestic gas demand. This includes our 2018 investment in the Shorouk Concession in Egypt, wherein lies the Zohr producing field," the report added.
Mubadala is a globally diversified fund with more than $243.3 billion (Dh894bn) in assets under management across 15 different sectors.
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What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
Changing visa rules
For decades the UAE has granted two and three year visas to foreign workers, tied to their current employer. Now that's changing.
Last year, the UAE cabinet also approved providing 10-year visas to foreigners with investments in the UAE of at least Dh10 million, if non-real estate assets account for at least 60 per cent of the total. Investors can bring their spouses and children into the country.
It also approved five-year residency to owners of UAE real estate worth at least 5 million dirhams.
The government also said that leading academics, medical doctors, scientists, engineers and star students would be eligible for similar long-term visas, without the need for financial investments in the country.
The first batch - 20 finalists for the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction.- were awarded in January and more are expected to follow.
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