US President Joe Biden is facing backlash from environmentalists after he approved a giant drilling operation, known as the Willow Project, in the Arctic.
Mr Biden's approval of the project marks a reversal on pledges he made during his presidential campaign.
“No more drilling on federal lands, period,” he said in 2020.
But what is the Willow Project, why is it so controversial and how will it affect US goals to reach net zero by 2050?
How much oil?
Barring any successful legal challenges, ConocoPhillips’s Willow Project will be constructed on the 9.3-million-hectare, federally owned National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska's pristine western Arctic.
At its peak, the $8 billion project would pump 180,000 barrels of oil each day. Burning all of that crude would result in at least 239 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over 30 years — only a small percentage of the five billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide the US produces annually.
Still, it is the same amount of carbon dioxide as is released by about 65 coal-fired power plants each year, or the equivalent emissions of 51 million petrol-powered cars over the same 30-year span, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency's emissions calculator.
Such a large project would undercut Mr Biden's goals of the US achieving a 50 per cent to 52 per cent reduction from 2005 levels of economywide net greenhouse gas pollution by 2030. It is also seen as a step back from his pledge to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
What does the White House say?
One of the reasons the Biden administration approved the Willow Project involves legality: ConocoPhillips holds the leases and has a legal right to drill in the area. Cancelling the leases would bring a court case that, if lost, would set a precedent, cost the government millions of dollars in fees and do nothing to stop oil drilling.
Instead, the government made a deal with ConocoPhillips that shrank the total surface area to be developed at Willow by 60 per cent, including removing a sensitive wildlife area known as Teshekpuk Lake.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the oil company “has a legal right to those leases”.
“The department’s options are limited when there are legal contracts in place,” she said.
Are there any benefits?
Approval for the project comes as the Biden administration looks to reduce US reliance on foreign energy supplies.
Willow would come online right as shale oil and gas production in the states flanking the Rocky Mountains plateaus.
Last year's spike in petrol prices, caused largely by supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine, brought the issue into sharp focus and Mr Biden faced enormous political pressure to increase domestic oil supplies, which had been slashed during the pandemic.
Proponents say robust US domestic oil production is key for national security, and ConocoPhillips says the Willow Project could create over 2,500 construction jobs and about 300 long-term jobs.
What do Alaskans say?
In Alaska, indigenous leaders, local and state politicians, and labour unions have campaigned for the Willow Project, which they say will bring key revenue and jobs to the remote state.
One of the state's two senators, Lisa Murkowski, welcomed the Biden administration's approval on Twitter.
“We did it, Alaska!” she wrote.
But several Alaskan environmental groups are suing federal agencies in an attempt to block the project.
In their lawsuit, they say the Willow Project would significantly and negatively affect the region’s wildlife — including polar bears and caribou — as well as the area's air, water, lands and people.
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SQUADS
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt), Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Asghar, Bilal Asif, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas, Wahab Riaz
Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne (vice-capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Roshen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Rangana Herath, Lakshan Sandakan, Dilruwan Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Gamage
Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG) and Nigel Llong (ENG)
TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
ICC match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
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.”
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
More about Middle East geopolitics
MATCH INFO
Mumbai Indians 186-6 (20 ovs)
Kings XI Punjab 183-5 (20 ovs)
Mumbai Indians won by three runs
