More Eyes Turn to COP28 UAE

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Editorial by Geoffrey Lakings for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--September 2023: The world is but a few months away from COP28 UAE and all that it will entail--even an entire day dedicated to trade--in its attempt to rethink, reboot and refocus the global climate as well as sustainability agenda.

Khaleej Times: COP28 to have an entire day dedicated to trade, says UAE Minister
Dr. Thani Alzeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said the target at the summit would be to think about sustainability all the way
In a first, there will be an entire day dedicated to trade at COP28 to kick start a global trading system that is cleaner, greener and smarter. That is according to Dr. Thani Alzeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade who was speaking at Climate Future Week (CFW).
"International freight transport currently accounts for more than 7% of all global emissions," he said. "Between 2010 and 2050, the average hauling distance will grow by 12%. And road haulage is by far global trade's main source of emissions, which is why the COP28 will be the first to feature a day dedicated to trade alongside stakeholders such as UNCTAD, the International Chamber of Commerce, the World Economic Forum, Abu Dhabi Department for Economy and WTO."

Because the world is a diverse place with so much unfolding and happening that requires immediate attention; such as, wrestling with macroeconomic concerns as the World Central Banks have been doing here in 2023 to try and prevent a global recession.

Investment Executive: Markets gird for higher-for-longer rates: Moody's
The latest rate decisions by the world's central banks indicate they're increasingly likely to remain on hold, and that markets should brace for rates to remain elevated for longer, says Moody's Investors Service.
In a new report, the rating agency noted that, in the past week, central bankers in the U.S., the U.K. and Japan all stood pat at their latest rate decisions. (Also) in emerging markets, central bankers in South Africa and Indonesia left their rates unchanged, while Turkey's central bank raised rates amid soaring inflation.

Reuters: BRICS welcomes new members in push to reshuffle world order
The BRICS bloc of developing nations agreed on Thursday (Aug 24th) to admit Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates in a move aimed at accelerating its push to reshuffle a world order it sees as outdated.
In deciding in favour of an expansion--the bloc's first in 13 years--BRICS leaders left the door open to future enlargement as dozens more countries voiced interest in joining a grouping they hope can level the global playing field.
...BRICS countries have economies that are vastly different in scale and governments with often divergent foreign policy goals, a complicating factor for the bloc's consensus decision-making model. Though home to about 40% of the world's population and a quarter of global gross domestic product, internal divisions have long hobbled BRICS ambitions of becoming a major player on the world stage.

While at the same time the world experienced a Summer of Extremes -- which was spoken to in our last IIR Energy Transition featured content. This also "comes with a cost and a reckoning" as several natural disasters are still taking place from dealing with the aftermath of an earthquake in Morocco (Morocco Seen Holding Rates as It Grapples With $12 Billion Earthquake Recovery Bill (Bloomberg)) and flooding in Libya (Climate change made Libya flooding up to 50 times more likely, 50% more intense (Yale Climate Connections)) to fires raging in Oceania.

• Floods, heat waves, hurricanes, wildfires surging worldwide this year.. Natural disasters have caused approximately $194 billion in global losses during the first half of 2023 (Scripps News).

So how will and can COP28 bring the world of finances, a shifting order, as well as the necessity of trade, together to mitigate and address what is unfolding with the environment in a sustainable fashion?

Khaleej Times: COP28 to have an entire day dedicated to trade, says UAE Minister
Organised across five days, the CFW has brought together experts from various fields to facilitate dialogues and debates about climate change and sustainability. Taking place at Museum of the Future, over 30 speakers will address CEOs, business leaders, government representatives, students and even the general public about the urgency with which climate change needs to be tackled.
Alzeyoudi said the target at COP28 would be to think about sustainability all the way. "The goal is to kick start the solution that can deliver a global trading system that is not just cleaner and greener, but smarter, faster and more inclusive," he said. "From the deployment of green fuels to building frameworks to integrating advanced technologies across supply chains, this can be a starting point for a transformation of trade."

For many wonder whether there will be tangible, meaningful results from COP28, especially in the emerging markets, the so called developing world.

The National News: Dutch PM Mark Rutte pledges to work with UAE to deliver results at Cop28
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has pledged to work with Cop28 host the UAE to mobilise action on a $100 billion package to support lower-income communities around the world affected by climate change.
Mr. Rutte made the commitment during discussions with President Sheikh Mohamed on Tuesday to support the UAE in delivering the $100 billion funding for climate action in the developing world.
In Abu Dhabi for a day packed with meetings with the government, business leaders and youth, Mr. Rutte told The National in an exclusive interview he was hopeful of a successful Cop28 and wanted to be part of mobilising forces to deliver the long-stalled funding.

As this subject was broached recently in New York when the UN convened a Climate Summit hoping to "put the World on alert"; even though leaders of the world's biggest polluting companies were skipping this summit (Guardian).

CNN: UN chief warns 'humanity has opened the gates to hell' as he convenes world leaders for climate summit
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres issued a stark warning as he gathered world leaders for a high-level summit on the climate crisis: "Humanity has opened the gates to hell."
"Horrendous heat is having horrendous effects. Distraught farmers watching crops carried away by floods. Sweltering temperatures spawning disease," he said in a speech to open the Climate Ambition Summit, happening alongside the UN General Assembly in New York.
"Climate action is dwarfed by the scale of the challenge," he added, warning that if nothing changes we are heading "towards a dangerous and unstable world."

So, at COP28 world leaders--already wrestling with economic, disaster, and other geopolitical challenges--will be speaking and deciding upon how to transform climate finance.

Fortune: COP 28 president: 'It's time to transform climate finance--and bridge its $2.4 trillion gap'
If you want to understand the state of the world's climate efforts, follow the money. Here's the daunting reality: By 2030, the developing world will need more than $2.4 trillion to address climate change--not as a one-off, but every single year. Of this total, donor countries have committed to mobilize $100 billion annually, a small fraction of what is needed. They have repeatedly fallen short until this past summer at the Paris Summit after a lot of pressure was applied. Now the challenge is how best to mobilize committed finance to restore trust, while simultaneously building a new climate financial infrastructure.
This raises a fundamental question: Is the world capable of mobilizing the trillions of dollars necessary to fund the climate transition? I believe the answer is yes--but not without a concerted effort from governments, international financial institutions, and the private sector to reform the current financial architecture and better align global and domestic financial flows with the world's climate goals.

To put this in perspective, the U.S. decided through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to heavily invest in renewables and the hydrogen economy as a means to address climate concerns in a sustainable fashion.

ING Economics: One year on: America's Inflation Reduction Act is closer to reshaping the US clean energy industry
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has spurred massive investment announcements in clean energy, with greater tax credit implementation clarity sustaining investor and developer appetite. The U.S. energy industry is set to change profoundly, and the IRA is responsible for much of this -- but it is not a one-stop shop...
The generous financial support from the IRA is already attracting soaring investment and project development plans. The DoE's Loan Program Office has been reviewing more than 140 clean energy financing and guarantee requests totaling approximately $121bn.
In the power sector, $271bn of investment was announced during the first 50 weeks of the IRA becoming effective to develop utility-scale wind, solar, and storage projects, manufacturing facilities, supply chains, and others in North America. For project development, there was 185 GW of clean power capacity announced during those 50 weeks, which is equal to almost 80% of the current clean power capacity in the U.S.

And with an Industrial Info Resources (IIR) subscription one can "see" renewable investments from a global perspective (and so much more).



For example, the U.S. administration is seeking to have 30 gigawatts of offshore wind in place.

Recharge News: US launches Atlantic offshore wind transmission action plan for 30GW goal
Roadmap provides industry guidance for immediate and long-term moves needed to integrate at-sea power into shoreside grids
The U.S. launched its Action Plan for Offshore Wind Transmission in a bid to more efficiently bring gigascale, at-sea power to shoreside electric grids. The plan, jointly announced by the departments of Energy (DoE) and Interior (DoI), outlines immediate actions necessary to connect the first generation of Atlantic offshore wind projects with grids, and longer-term efforts to support needed transmission over the next several decades.

Although, DOE wind energy technologies is distributing capital to projects.

Clean Technica: 15 Wind Power Projects Get $27 Million From US DOE Wind Energy Technologies Office
In December 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) released a funding opportunity to lower costs and address barriers to deployment of wind energy in all its applications--offshore, land-based, and distributed...
In September 2023, WETO selected 15 projects for negotiation for award under this funding opportunity, ranging between $500,000 and $4,500,000.

European Energy firms (Equinor, BP) have expressed financial concerns with their offshore wind projects and are seeking recompense.

Reuters: Equinor, BP seek 54% hike in US offshore wind power price, filings show
Norway's Equinor (EQNR.OL) and its partner BP (BP.L) are seeking a 54% increase for the price of power produced at three planned offshore U.S. wind farms, according to a filing made by a New York state regulatory authority.
The two partners in recent years won the rights to build the Empire Wind 1, Empire Wind 2 and Beacon Wind wind farms off the New York coast, which have a combined capacity of 3,300 megawatts, capable of powering millions of homes.



With companies like Orsted stating their willingness to "walk away."

Reuters: Orsted CEO says abandoning US wind projects a 'real option', Bloomberg reports
Denmark's Orsted (ORSTED.CO), the world's largest offshore wind farm developer, is prepared to walk away from projects in the U.S. unless the Biden administration guarantees more support, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing the company's CEO.
"We are still upholding a real option to walk away," Orsted CEO Mads Nipper told Bloomberg News in an interview. "But right now, we are still working towards a final investment decision on projects in America."

Because they are facing significant financial costs and risks with problems being encountered in renewable supply chains. Not to mention this aforementioned high-rate environment brought about by Central Banks as they wrestle with inflationary pressures to try to mitigate a global recession.

Reuters: Orsted plunges 20% on risk of $2.3 billion in US impairments
Denmark's Orsted (ORSTED.CO), the world's largest offshore wind farm developer, said on Wednesday it may see U.S. impairments of 16 billion Danish crowns ($2.3 billion) due to supply chain problems, soaring interest rates and a lack of new tax credits.
Orsted's share price tumbled 20% to its lowest level in more than four years and is down almost 70% from its 2021 peak.
"The situation in U.S. offshore wind is severe," Chief Executive Mads Nipper told reporters on a conference call.

So will COP28 truly empower the world to rethink, reboot, & refocus the global climate as well as sustainability agenda with everything the world is wrestling with...

Therefore as the world wrestles with the investments into and nature of this energy transition and transformation let IIR Energy's Dedicated Market Research place the world at your fingertips. Tomorrow's News Today. Ask us! We have Answers!

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