No single programme or strategy is enough to meet the net-zero goals of different countries and businesses, with each having different circumstances, resource endowments and geography, industry experts have said.
Economies must be flexible as they design and enact net-zero plans to achieve the best outcomes, the experts said at an online forum on Friday evening.
The “size and urgency of the task that we have in front of us are huge … there is not going to be a one-size-fits-all approach in achieving net zero targets,” Sama Bilbao y Leon, head of the World Nuclear Association, told the panel.
“Countries need to pick the energy mix that fits them the best … [according to] their social-economic situations and cultural preferences, there is going to be huge diversity,” Ms Bilbao y Leon said.
She was speaking at a “Pathways to Net Zero” discussion held as part of the Global Energy Forum at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
Net zero — meaning an economy either emits no greenhouse gases or offsets all of its emissions — is now the accepted standard for countries and companies setting climate targets.
Net-zero pledges have increased rapidly over the past couple of years and now cover 90 per cent of the global economy.
“African countries are committed to meet their climate goals … but we need to look at different options that we have available to achieve our goals. Flexibility is required as we cannot impose one-size-fits-all solution on a very diversified continent,” said Alain Ebobisse, chief executive of Africa50.
“We have to agree some [countries] will transition quickly while others will take longer time,” he added.
Africa50 was established by African governments and the African Development Bank to help bridge the continent’s infrastructure funding gap.
About $50 trillion in incremental investments is required by 2050 to achieve net-zero goals and cut greenhouse emissions from about 51 billion tonnes per year, industry experts said.
They said developed economies have a crucial role to play if the world is to meet its climate goals within the set deadlines.
“Africa is hungry for energy, and we have a huge population. By 2050, Africa’s population would be almost doubled from 1.3 billion today to 2.5 billion … we need to make sure that we cater to this growing energy demand,” Mr Ebobisse said.
Advanced economies have a responsibility to help emerging economies “leapfrog from where they are today towards a future of clean energy”, Ms Bilbao y Leon said.
“Nuclear energy is potentially a game-changer for many countries as it offers a lot of options to match different needs of the countries. It is one of the few low-carbon energies that can produce electricity as well as heat,” she added.
Last year, the Arab world’s second-biggest economy, the UAE, became the first country in the Middle East to set a net-zero target. It aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and plans to invest $160 billion in clean and renewable energy sources over the next three decades.
The Emirates is the only Arab nation that has a full-sized, operational nuclear power plant. It recently completed the construction of Unit 3 at Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant. Unit 1 is fully operational and Unit 2 was recently connected to the main grid and continues to undergo testing.
As the world moves towards net-zero pledges, technology will play a key role in helping economies accomplish their aims, said Tim Holt, member of the executive board at Siemens Energy.
“We need technologies for the transition and it’s not going to happen overnight.
“All of us see a future that is potentially all-renewable but how do we get there?
“If we want to make it happen, we need to define what is the transition period, what will be the technologies for the transition period and do we incentivise those technologies that will be used in the transition.”
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions
There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.
1 Going Dark
A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.
2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers
A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.
3. Fake Destinations
Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.
4. Rebranded Barrels
Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.
* Bloomberg
War
Director: Siddharth Anand
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Ashutosh Rana, Vaani Kapoor
Rating: Two out of five stars
India squad for fourth and fifth Tests
Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rahul, Shaw, Pujara, Rahane (vc), Karun, Karthik (wk), Pant (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Pandya, Ishant, Shami, Umesh, Bumrah, Thakur, Vihari
The 100 Best Novels in Translation
Boyd Tonkin, Galileo Press
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
Omar Yabroudi's factfile
Born: October 20, 1989, Sharjah
Education: Bachelor of Science and Football, Liverpool John Moores University
2010: Accrington Stanley FC, internship
2010-2012: Crystal Palace, performance analyst with U-18 academy
2012-2015: Barnet FC, first-team performance analyst/head of recruitment
2015-2017: Nottingham Forest, head of recruitment
2018-present: Crystal Palace, player recruitment manager
All%20The%20Light%20We%20Cannot%20See%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESteven%20Knight%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EMark%20Ruffalo%2C%20Hugh%20Laurie%2C%20Aria%20Mia%20Loberti%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E1%2F5%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Profile
Name: Carzaty
Founders: Marwan Chaar and Hassan Jaffar
Launched: 2017
Employees: 22
Based: Dubai and Muscat
Sector: Automobile retail
Funding to date: $5.5 million
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
South Africa squad
Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen (wicketkeeper), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:
Ajax 2-3 Tottenham
Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate
Final: June 1, Madrid