UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government is facing two lawsuits brought by environmental pressure groups over its “inadequate” plans to combat climate change.
ClientEarth and Friends of the Earth have both launched legal proceedings at the High Court in London for a judicial review of the UK government’s Net Zero Strategy, arguing that it fails to set out sufficient policies to tackle climate change and reach net zero emissions by 2050.
The government insists it has set out detailed steps to help transition to a low-carbon economy in the “landmark” strategy it unveiled last year before hosting Cop26 in Glasgow.
However, environmentalists claim the government’s strategy is an “imaginary pathway” lacking in credibility and that its failure to act at the pace needed to avoid the worst effects of climate change is unlawful.
“It’s not enough for the UK government simply to have a net zero strategy, it needs to include real-world policies that ensure it succeeds. Anything less is a breach of its legal duties and amounts to greenwashing and climate delay,” said senior ClientEarth lawyer Sam Hunter Jones.
ClientEarth says current policies will not reduce emissions enough to meet the UK’s legally binding carbon budgets – targets which limit the total amount of greenhouse gases that the UK can emit over five-year periods on the road to net zero.
“Its own baseline forecasts show that the UK’s projected emissions in 2037 will be more than double the levels the government is legally required to adhere to,” said Mr Hunter Jones.
“The government is also relying heavily on unproven technologies while overlooking viable current solutions that would have immediate impact, including solutions recommended by its own advisers, the climate change committee.”
Friends of the Earth say the UK’s 400-page strategy is “riddled with holes and omissions” and that there is currently no mechanism by which to hold the government accountable to its legal targets.
“A rapid and fair transition to a safer future requires a plan that shows how much greenhouse gas reduction the chosen policies will achieve, and by when," said Friends of the Earth lawyer Katie de Kauwe.
"That the plan for achieving net zero is published without this information in it is very worrying, and we believe is unlawful.”
The organisations hope the lawsuits will force the government to address its policy gaps.
In response, the government said it had outlined proposals to slash emissions in October, including a ban on new diesel and petrol cars by 2030.
It also cited plans to decarbonise electricity production by 2035 – and to make all new heating systems low-carbon by 2035.
“The UK has cut emissions faster than any other G7 country over the past few decades,” said an official from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
“The net-zero strategy sets out specific, detailed measures we will take to transition to a low carbon economy.”
Having now filed the claims in court, the government will have the opportunity to submit its defence before the court decides whether to proceed with a full hearing.
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What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
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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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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