English batsman Alex Hales is one of the many overseas players who travelled to the UAE to take part in the first DP World International League T20 earlier this year. Chris Whiteoak / The National
English batsman Alex Hales is one of the many overseas players who travelled to the UAE to take part in the first DP World International League T20 earlier this year. Chris Whiteoak / The National
English batsman Alex Hales is one of the many overseas players who travelled to the UAE to take part in the first DP World International League T20 earlier this year. Chris Whiteoak / The National
English batsman Alex Hales is one of the many overseas players who travelled to the UAE to take part in the first DP World International League T20 earlier this year. Chris Whiteoak / The National

UAE cricket team Desert Vipers set up willow plantation to offset carbon footprint


Paul Radley
  • English
  • Arabic

A Dubai cricket team are planting a willow tree for each of their players as part of their plan to promote environmental awareness within the sport.

Desert Vipers, who were runners up in the first DP World International League T20 earlier this year, are undertaking a number of sustainability-related projects.

In July, the Vipers published an audit of their carbon emissions after their first season in the new T20 league in the UAE.

The franchise’s total carbon emissions amounted to 570 tonnes. Around 125 players participated across the league in its first season, only 24 of whom were locally based.

As such, flying players in for the event from around the world had a substantial effect. The Vipers audit showed that travel accounted for 423 tonnes of their own carbon emissions.

Goods and services including hotel and transportation in the UAE accounting for about 114 tonnes, with air conditioning coolant contributing to approximately 32 tonnes.

In response to the calculations, the franchise have partnered with a number of different sustainability organisations.

The franchise and its partners will be investing in "cricket-themed carbon credits representing the team’s entire season one footprint".

Another of their projects is to plant trees. So the likes of Alex Hales, Wanindu Hasaranga and Rohan Mustafa will each get their own willow tree, planted at a farm in Essex in the UK.

Each tree takes around 15 years to mature and makes around 50 cricket bats. Twelve trees have been planted so far – one each for the match day players plus one sub – while the franchise hope their corporate partners will also participate in the scheme.

Sean Morris, the chief executive of 1.5 Sport, who are the Vipers’ sustainability partners, thinks the willow project will “go beyond the offsetting and invest in the future”.

Rohan Mustafa was one of only 24 locally based players to take part in the ILT20. Chris Whiteoak / The National
Rohan Mustafa was one of only 24 locally based players to take part in the ILT20. Chris Whiteoak / The National

“As well as their own offsetting and sustainability policies they can also partner in the willow plantation, and we think that is very much future focused,” Morris said.

Phil Oliver, the Vipers chief executive, said the audit report made for alarming reading, but said it shows they need to act.

“It’s important we do acknowledge the impact we have on the environment playing as a cricket team in that part of the world,” Oliver said.

“It is difficult. There is no doubt it is a challenge. I think it is a breakthrough to be transparent and be held accountable like that.

“I don’t think other sports teams are looking enough at themselves. All we can do is try and get our own house in order as best we can and try to inspire others to do similar.”

Ian Curtis, from the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford warned that offsetting will not be easy, and said the Vipers need to be innovative.

“We are going to have to break a lot of ideas, be constantly trying things, and things are going to fail but at the end of the day we have to go out on the pitch and try and work things out,” Curtis said.

“When [Mike Gatting] played the first reverse sweep, the [MCC] members all thought, ‘What is going on?’ Now look what is going on these days.

“In particular kids love that type of innovation. Now we are in that innovation phase.”

Gary Adlen, the chief executive of Carbon Happy World, the company who calculated the footprint of the Vipers, said the figure was “a lot of carbon, particularly for a small business”.

The company are also working with the franchise on ways to “avoid, adapt and absorb” emissions in future to help mitigate its impact.

“What it did highlight for the Desert Vipers was where that carbon was coming from, particularly around flights and hotel stays,” Adlen said.

“Playing cricket in a desert, you have a lot of energy usage. That in a sense gave an inflated figure.

“All sporting organisations should have a figure attached in their reports [about carbon emissions] and Desert Vipers doing that is important.

“From that, what we have to do is work out how they get that down. They have committed to a five-year, 50 per cent reduction and a net-zero reduction by 2040.

“We will monitor that to make sure we are in line with that, help them get their reduction plans in place and help do the reporting.”

Tom Moody, the Vipers director of cricket, likened the report to a cricket scorecard, saying: “Now we know exactly what we have used in our first year.

“It is a case of us improving on that. Being is sport, we know this is our scoreboard and we are accountable for it.”

Results

Stage 7:

1. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal - 3:18:29

2. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - same time

3. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious

4. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep

5. Cees Bol (NED) Team DSM

General Classification:

1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 24:00:28

2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:35

3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:02

4. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:42

5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45

List of alleged parties
  • May 15 2020: Boris Johnson is said to have attended a Downing Street pizza party
  • 27 Nov 2020: PM gives speech at leaving do for his staff
  • Dec 10 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary Gavin Williamson 
  • Dec 13 2020: Mr Johnson and his then-fiancee Carrie Symonds throw a flat party
  • Dec 14 2020: Shaun Bailey holds staff party at Conservative Party headquarters 
  • Dec 15 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
  • Dec 18 2020: Downing Street Christmas party 
Details

Through Her Lens: The stories behind the photography of Eva Sereny

Forewords by Jacqueline Bisset and Charlotte Rampling, ACC Art Books

PROFILE OF INVYGO

Started: 2018

Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo

Based: Dubai

Sector: Transport

Size: 9 employees

Investment: $1,275,000

Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

If you go

The Flights

Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Johannesburg from Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively. Economy return tickets cost from Dh2,650, including taxes.

The trip

Worldwide Motorhoming Holidays (worldwidemotorhomingholidays.co.uk) operates fly-drive motorhome holidays in eight destinations, including South Africa. Its 14-day Kruger and the Battlefields itinerary starts from Dh17,500, including campgrounds, excursions, unit hire and flights. Bobo Campers has a range of RVs for hire, including the 4-berth Discoverer 4 from Dh600 per day.

No.6 Collaborations Project

Ed Sheeran (Atlantic)

About Karol Nawrocki

• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.

• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.

• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.

• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.

The specs: 2019 GMC Yukon Denali

Price, base: Dh306,500
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Power: 420hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 621Nm @ 4,100rpm​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​Fuel economy, combined: 12.9L / 100km

Disposing of non-recycleable masks
    Use your ‘black bag’ bin at home Do not put them in a recycling bin Take them home with you if there is no litter bin
  • No need to bag the mask
Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Race results:

1. Thani Al Qemzi (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi: 46.44 min

2. Peter Morin (FRA) CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team: 0.91sec

3. Sami Selio (FIN) Mad-Croc Baba Racing Team: 31.43sec

Where can I submit a sample?

Volunteers can now submit DNA samples at a number of centres across Abu Dhabi. The programme is open to all ages.

Collection centres in Abu Dhabi include:

  • Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC)
  • Biogenix Labs in Masdar City
  • Al Towayya in Al Ain
  • NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City
  • Bareen International Hospital
  • NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
  • NMC Royal Medical Centre - Abu Dhabi
  • NMC Royal Women’s Hospital.
Brief scores:

Barcelona 3

Pique 38', Messi 51 (pen), Suarez 82'

Rayo Vallecano 1

De Tomas Gomez 24'

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

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Price: From Dh590,000

MATCH INFO

Everton 2 (Tosun 9', Doucoure 93')

Rotherham United 1 (Olosunde 56')

Man of the Match Olosunde  (Rotherham)

The specs: 2017 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn

Price, base / as tested: Dhxxx
Engine: 5.7L V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 556Nm @ 3,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km

How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers

Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.

It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.

The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.

Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.

Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.

He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.

AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”

A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.

Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.

Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.

Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.

By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.

Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.

In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”

Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.

She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.

Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

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Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

Who are the Sacklers?

The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.

Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. 

It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.

Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".

The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.

Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.

The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S

Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900

Engine: 937cc

Transmission: Six-speed gearbox

Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm

Torque: 93Nm @ 6,500rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km

The Beach Bum

Director: Harmony Korine

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg

Two stars

MATCH INFO

Day 2 at the Gabba

Australia 312-1 

Warner 151 not out, Burns 97,  Labuschagne 55 not out

Pakistan 240 

Shafiq 76, Starc 4-52

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.

Company%20Profile
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2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EWomen%E2%80%99s%20race%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E1.%20Tigist%20Ketema%20(ETH)%202hrs%2016min%207sec%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Ruti%20Aga%20(ETH)%202%3A18%3A09%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%20Dera%20Dida%20(ETH)%202%3A19%3A29%0D%3Cbr%3EMen's%20race%3A%0D%3Cbr%3E1.%20Addisu%20Gobena%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A01%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Lemi%20Dumicha%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A20%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%20DejeneMegersa%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A42%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Updated: December 01, 2023, 8:32 AM