Gulf Business Sustainability - November 2022

gulfbusiness.com / N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 2

P.12 HARNESSING HYDROGEN: Why the UAE is poised to be a leader in the global hydrogen economy

SCAN TO WATCH PEPSICO AMESA’S CEO TALK ABOUT COP27, THE COMPANY’S POSITIVE AGRICULTURE INITIATIVES AND OTHER PROJECTS

POSITIVE ABOUT THE FUTURE

P.42 PORSCHE TAYCAN CHARGES AHEAD: We test drive the company’s first fully-electric model

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Eugene Willemsen, CEO of PepsiCo Africa, Middle East and South Asia, shares how the company is enabling sustainability through its pep+ initiatives

CONSCIOUS CONSUMPTION

WHY IT’S TIME TO STOP AND THINK BEFORE YOU SHOP

LOOK SMART, LIVE SMARTER

Follow us on instagram.com/emiratesman

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CONTENTS / NOVEMBER 2022

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The brief An insight into the sustainability news and trends shaping the region with perceptive commentary and analysis

34 Recycle to rebound To enable global circularity, UAE-based Rebound has launched a global B2B digital trading platform for recycled plastic

28 A positive approach to sustainability Eugene Willemsen, CEO – Africa, Middle East and South Asia PepsiCo, shares the importance of the three pillars underpinning the company’s sustainability strategy, and why COP27 is a great platform to rally the world towards climate action gulfbusiness.com

November 2022

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CONTENTS / NOVEMBER 2022

41 Lifestyle

Smooth operator: We take the all-electric Porsche Taycan GTS for a test drive p.42

Shining right: Dubai-based Fyne Jewellery’s Aya Ahmad on why lab-grown diamonds have a sparkling future p.46

“We must achieve a complete paradigm shift in the way we produce and consume food to provide adequate nutrition for the global population, while preserving our environment for the next generations” Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, the UAE’s Minister of Climate Change and Environment

49 Be KIND, be beautiful The co-founders of Australian beauty brand, The KIND Collective, on why they chose to launch vegan, cruelty-free and sustainably derived cosmetics

Editor-in-chief Obaid Humaid Al Tayer Managing partner and group editor Ian Fairservice Group director Andrew Wingrove andrew.wingrove@motivate.ae Editor Neesha Salian neesha.salian@motivate.ae Digital editor Zubina Ahmed zubina.ahmed@motivate.ae Tech editor Divsha Bhat divsha.bhat@motivate.ae Contributing editor Zainab Mansoor editorial.freelancer@motivate.ae Senior art director Olga Petroff olga.petroff@motivate.ae Art director Freddie N. Colinares freddie@motivate.ae Photographer Ahmed Abdelwahab

General manager – production S Sunil Kumar Production manager Binu Purandaran Production supervisor Venita Pinto Chief commercial officer Anthony Milne anthony@motivate.ae Publisher Manish Chopra manish.chopra@motivate.ae Digital sales director Gurjeet Kaur Gurjeet.Kaur@motivate.ae Sales executive Sonam Sharma sonam.sharma@motivate.ae Group marketing manager Joelle AlBeaino joelle.albeaino@motivate.ae

Cover: Freddie N. Colinares Follow us on social media: Linkedin: Gulf Business Facebook: GulfBusiness Twitter: @GulfBusiness Instagram: @GulfBusiness

HEAD OFFICE: Media One Tower, Dubai Media City, PO Box 2331, Dubai, UAE, Tel: +971 4 427 3000, Fax: +971 4 428 2260, motivate@motivate.ae DUBAI MEDIA CITY: SD 2-94, 2nd Floor, Building 2, Dubai, UAE, Tel: +971 4 390 3550, Fax: +971 4 390 4845 ABU DHABI: PO Box 43072, UAE, Tel: +971 2 677 2005, Fax: +971 2 677 0124, motivate-adh@motivate.ae LONDON: Acre House, 11/15 William Road, London NW1 3ER, UK, motivateuk@motivate.ae

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UAE INTERNET USAGE STATISTICS 2022

The Brief Consumer Behaviour Food Security Clean Energy Mobility Digital Solutions

08 10 12 14 19

NOV

22

AVERAGE DAILY TIME SPENT USING THE INTERNET

8h 36m ALL DEVICES

4h 35m MOBILE

There are 9.80 million smartphone users and 9.31 million mobile internet users in the UAE today

4h 01m

COMPUTERS AND TABLETS

Source: Global Media Insight

The future of packaging Did you know that plastic represents 44 per cent of global packaging consumption? Here’s how we can change that p.22 gulfbusiness.com

November 2022

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Photograph by Greg Newington

EXCLUSIVE PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES, PHOTOGRAPHY AND TIMEPIECES FROM AWARD-WINNING INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS

Handcrafted chiming clock with images from the Wilfred Thesiger Archive

by David Gailbraith

Painting by Mai Majdy

The Brief / CCUS

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/VECTORMINE

COMMENT

Capturing carbon There’s a new race to develop bite-sized carbon capture technology

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echnology to remove carbon dioxide from emissions before they enter the atmosphere is still nascent, but many scientists, governments and investors are already banking on the approach to reduce the climate impact of difficult-to-decarbonise industries.

Carbon capture technology operates a bit like a giant vacuum, sucking planetwarming CO₂ from emissions generated by the burning of carbon-intensive fuels.

But wide-scale adoption has so far been stymied by the size and expense of most capture systems, which can cost up to $500m and typically require bespoke equipment and installation.

New standardised, modular designs that are aimed at small emitters could open the door for more widespread use. Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plans to start introducing a line-up of small to mediumsized carbon capture systems next year, which it says can sequester up to 95 per cent of CO₂ emitted from small polluters like municipal waste incinerators, cement plants or ships. gulfbusiness.com

“Finding modular systems that can work at low-costs for small capacities would significantly improve the business case,’’ said David Lluis Madrid, an analyst at BloombergNEF. “Small scale plants have been highly uneconomical with current technology.’’

Companies like Mitsubishi Heavy and Carbon Clean are racing to develop capture, storage and utilisation technology, known as CCS or CCUS, as industry and countries accelerate efforts to cut emissions and meet midcentury climate targets. The Japanese government estimates the market for sequestering, transporting and storing CO₂ will expand to nearly $70bn a year by 2050.

The technology has faced scrutiny from activists who say it prolongs the life of fossil fuel facilities and generates additional risks associated with storing or transporting the captured CO₂. But researchers are already working on building direct air capture facilities that suck CO₂ directly from the atmosphere that many scientists say will be needed to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Despite criticism, governments are increasingly looking to the technology to help meet climate targets. The US Inflation Reduction Act passed in August, which increases tax credits given for carbon captured at industrial facilities, could give a boost for such projects, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Will Hares.

Mitsubishi Heavy began developing technology to capture CO₂ from emissions more than 30 years ago and says that over the past year more than 100 firms have expressed interest in its modular capture system. The company plans to begin introducing a range of modules that can capture between 0.3 to 200 metric tonnes of CO₂ a day using an amine-based solution, from next year. Exxon Mobil says its LaBarge CCS facility in Wyoming has captured more CO₂ than any other to date.

The company says the site sequesters six to seven million tonnes a year that is then pumped into wells to push out oil and gas.

Mitsubishi Heavy declined to disclose the price of its compact CCS units. However, the cost of producing this technology is expected to decline as the system is standardised and mass-produced, particularly as opposed to larger-scale systems that are typically bespoke.

Its first installation has already taken place at a biomass-fuelled power plant in Hiroshima, in southern Japan. The module is the smallest version and takes up about 10 square metres of space, and is roughly the size of a couple of vans stacked on top of each other. The model chosen by the plant’s operator, Taihei Dengyo Kaisha, captures less than 1 per cent of carbon dioxide emitted from facility.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering’s chief technology officer Makoto Susaki acknowledges that an effective transition means moving away from burning carbon-intensive fuels, but says that CCS devices will help some places in their efforts to decarbonise.

“There will be places that can’t immediately install renewable energy, and have to continue using fossil fuel” for power, he said. “In that scenario, using carbon capture is an option. It’s not the end-goal, as there should be discussion after on how to enable more renewable sources of energy.”

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The Brief / Consumer Behaviour COMMENT

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/TARIKVISION

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Why conscious consumption is the way forward As a society, we’ve reached staggering levels of consumption, which has had a major impact on the environment and biodiversity. Here’s why we need to stop and think before we shop 8

November 2022

ronic t-shirts, hats, and trainers were always my thing. As a GenXer who grew up in Canada, it’s not surprising that when I want a little retail therapy these are things I look for. That being said, as an environmentalist who has spent most of my career in the waste industry, trying to manage what people and companies throw away, I struggle with my conscience whenever I buy new things.

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the fashion industry is responsible for 10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. That is an astonishing 1.7 billion tonnes of CO₂ per year and is expected to rise by 50 per cent by 2030. The same industry is also responsible for 20 per cent of all the wastewater produced in the world, primarily caused by fabric dying. To give you a sense of the scale of the water challenge; making a single pair of jeans uses 7,500 litres of water. That is equivalent to the amount of water the average person drinks over a period of seven years, according to a UN report (2019).

Once we discard clothing, the story continues to be dire. Every second of every day, all year round, the equivalent of a rubbish truck load of clothes is burnt or buried in landfill, according to Ellen Macarthur Foundation. In fact, 13 per cent of clothing gets put into recycling programmes worldwide, however, from this only 1 per cent can be recycled as the remaining products that enter the recycling process are of poor quality and not recyclable as new clothing.

As of 2020, the lost value of clothing waste accounts to more than $100bn globally.

We are expected to dispose of 134 million tonnes of textiles per year by 2030.

The result of these environmental impacts is an acceleration of the climate crisis caused by global warming. This is no longer some future risk. The crisis has arrived, and we are already feeling the effects of it. We are witnessing extreme weather events, melting glaciers, wildfires, etc. The impact on humanity is still being measured, but includes greater food and water insecurity, loss of land to rising sea levels and an increase in new disease transmission from wildlife. Over the past 15 years, production of clothing has doubled, while the amount of time an item of clothing is worn (utilised) gulfbusiness.com

“LUXURY LIFESTYLE BRANDS AND HIGH-END FASHION ARE VERY POPULAR IN THIS REGION. IN FACT, ANNUAL SPENDING ON FASHION IN THE GCC AMOUNTS TO OVER $50BN, WITH COUNTRIES LIKE THE UAE HAVING ONE OF THE HIGHEST PER CAPITA SPENDING ON FASHION IN THE WORLD” has dropped by 40 per cent, according to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation.

Luxury lifestyle brands and high-end fashion are very popular in this region.

In fact, annual spending on fashion in the GCC amounts to over $50bn, with countries like the UAE having one of the highest per capita spending on fashion in the world at approximately $1,600 a year, according to McKinsey.

To a large extent the responsibility for addressing the impact rests with the brand owners and retailers who have predicated their business models in selling us more stuff. These companies have to make changes to their supply chains, design methodologies and business models to drive down the carbon intensity of their products. They must self-regulate, introduce alternative materials, invest in recycling, and reuse and redesign their business models to align with our climate demands.

There are a number of companies in the fashion and retail industry that sell “environmentally friendly” products. The challenge is that many of these products are not actually good for the environment.

Rather they merely market a single aspect of their products that appears more responsible in order to assuage the guilt of shoppers like myself. This includes a number of the fast fashion brands that have been criticised for greenwashing by marketing products made from fossil fuel-based fibres as “conscious” products without the necessary environmental data to support this positioning.

Despite knowing the “disturbing” facts about fashion’s impact on the environment

AS OF 2020, THE LOST VALUE OF CLOTHING WASTE ACCOUNTS TO MORE THAN

$100bn GLOBALLY

gulfbusiness.com

and my constant struggle with my own environmental conscience, every once in a while, I really want to treat myself with a new purchase. For this reason, I have spent a lot of time trying to answer a tough question: how can my fashion appetite better align with our environmental needs?

The quickest answer, but the hardest to adhere to, is to simply stop buying new clothes. So far, despite decades of environmental education, global society is clearly moving in the opposite direction. In fact, in the US, the number of garments purchased per capita has increased nearly five-fold in the last 40 years. In 1980, Americans bought 14 articles of clothing per year. In 2021, that number had risen to 68.

In fact, the reason my question is so difficult to answer is because there is an inherent conflict between consumption and environmental impacts. We need to establish a framework for shopping that allows for the reality of consumer behaviour and addresses the ever-growing environmental challenges.

For this reason, here are some practical guidelines to shop more responsibly: 01. Buy things that you love. Don’t buy things you are not sure about or things you “kind of like”. Make every purchase count.

02. Buy the highest quality version of each thing that you can afford. It’s more

likely to last longer. On the other hand, it is likely to be more expensive than “lower quality” versions, making you think twice about whether you really love it enough to buy it. According to the Love Your Clothes campaign, the average life of an item

WE ARE EXPECTED TO DISPOSE OF

134 MILLION TONNES

OF TEXTILES PER YEAR BY 2030

Samer Kamal, chief sustainability officer at Averda

of clothing is three years. However, by extending the active use of clothes by nine months, you will see a reduction in their carbon, water, and waste footprints by 20 to 30 per cent.

03. Borrow whenever you can. If there is something you really want but can’t afford, rent it. There are lots of companies dedicated to making luxury products available for periodic use, such as Rent the Runway, The RealReal and Hurr, which reduces the number of goods that need to be manufactured. On average, rental clothing can reduce your water consumption by 24 per cent, 6 per cent reduction in energy usage and 3 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions per garment, compared to buying new goods.

04. Buy vintage. The lowest carbon footprint products are those that already exist.

Give fashion brands less reason to produce more goods by purchasing great products that have already been made. On average, purchasing a pre-owned item saves 1 kilogramme of waste, 3,040 litres of water and 22 kilogrammes of CO₂ according to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation.

05. Buy from “environmentally responsible” companies. Take the time to do a bit

of research before spending your money so that you know you are giving that money to a company that has your interests and the interests of the world in mind, not just profits. There are lots of fashion brands that are making real changes in their supply chain to reduce the footprint of their products, make them recyclable and treat people and the planet better. Good on you does exactly that by providing consumers detailed and up-to-date assessments of brands’ environmental and social credentials.

06. Buy things that are recyclable. Before you recycle them, consider donating them as an option.

07. Mend and repair your clothing. Find a good seamstress, tailor and cobbler to make sure that your give your cherished goods a new lease of life.

The best way to support the environment is to stop consumption. For those moments when only retail therapy will do, or when you see something you absolutely have to have, following these basic rules will help to dramatically reduce the impact of your next purchases.

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The Brief / Food Security COMMENT

Evren Ozlu, head of animal health IMETA, Boehringer Ingelheim

DISEASE EVOLUTION

Food security is a pressing priority in the IMETA region Twenty per cent of livestock production is lost to disease every year, while one-third of all food produced is wasted

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he lives of animals and humans are interconnected in profound and complex ways.

Many of the world’s global challenges, from mitigating climate change to pandemic preparedness and food security and safety, can’t be managed successfully without considering animals and their wellbeing.

By 2030, our global population is reportedly expected to grow to 8.5 billion, and as the human population continues to expand, protein is at the heart of the food security debate. Yet, 20 per cent of livestock production is lost to disease every year, while one-third of all food produced is wasted.

One key area that needs attention is poultry production, which plays a vital role in meeting India, the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (IMETA) region’s demand for affordable animal proteins. The area represents nearly 50 per cent of the global poultry market, represented by 73 countries, and 13.2 billion chickens are produced here annually. Providing nutritious food while preserving animal wellbeing in environmentally sustainable conditions is key to ensuring food security for so many people.

The statistics highlight that there is an urgent need to ensure good health for humans, animals and the environment, as each has the potential to act as an entry point for diseases that can have huge implications on the other.

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Until today, the first world countries have followed a slaughter policy to control and eradicate the field outbreaks of this disease in their countries.

The highly pathogenic Avian Influenza caused by either H5 and H7 subtypes forms part of the list A of diseases that must be reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and are a cause of restriction for commerce. Avian Influenza is considered a risk and possible threat to human beings. As of today, these subtypes don’t infect human beings, but the nature of these viruses poses a risk of recombination and mutation that might enable them to do so in the future.

To help combat diseases, the industry has seen an increase in demand for vaccinations that can be performed in hatcheries, which can offer improved efficiency and easy administration.

Therefore, countries in the IMETA region must join forces and develop strategies to control such infectious diseases with high economic impact.

FOCUS ON COLLABORATION AND TECHNOLOGY

A recent communication from the Ministers of Agriculture from the EU agreed to modify their strategy and recommend the use of vaccines to combat Avian Influenza disease, something that was previously forbidden.

Several countries are also proactively taking steps to promote poultry welfare. For instance, the UAE government’s Smart Early Warning System for Biological Security initiative seeks to develop a nationwide smart e-system that documents reports about animal diseases, agricultural pests, notifications related to local and imported foods and biological security.

Whereas in Egypt, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) Africa Sustainable Livestock 2050 (ASL2050) initiative is looking to identify and support livestock and poultry policies that, while tapping into opportunities, also effectively deal with the anticipated challenges for public health, society and the environment.

In June, I attended the first African Meeting of the Morocco Association of Avian Pathology (AMPA) and World Veterinary Poultry Association (WVPA), where topics from disease updates, vaccine strategies, and solutions were discussed. The event was crucial to establishing an exchange of knowledge and experiences on relevant topics related to poultry production and diseases in the IMETA region between veterinarians, scientists and local authorities. gulfbusiness.com

The Brief / Alan’s Corner

Alan’s Corner Alan O’Neill, author, keynote speaker and owner of Kara, specialists in culture and strategy

Coming full circle

Why the circular economy is good for the environment, and your business

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limate change is widespread, rapid and intensifying, and some trends are now irreversible, at least during the present time frame, according to the latest much-anticipated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. The UN SecretaryGeneral António Guterres said ‘The Working Group’s report was nothing less than a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable’.

When you couple that with the escalation in the past year of positive noise for the “green agenda”, this is indeed a sobering message. What was at one time seen to be the domain of ‘new-agers’, ‘tree-huggers’ and the likes, many of us have become much more sensitive to this topic lately.

The pandemic and subsequent lockdown got us all thinking differently about our health and wellness, and the environment.

STRIKING A BALANCE I am particularly impressed with the many organisations that have struck a balance between doing great things for the environment and making money from the circular economy. And no, I don’t believe there is a contradiction, as they co-exist very comfortably.

I remember having a British client in 1991 that manufactured chopping boards.

Its USP was that the beech wood used in the boards came from managed forests. The boards were more expensive than others on the market at that time and therefore sales were challenging. The USP wasn’t topical enough so in some ways, this company was ahead of its time. Now, the company’s boards are in great demand. For all likeminded companies, their time is now.

gulfbusiness.com

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN LOOK AT ADOPTING SUSTAINABILITY IN YOUR COMPANY: Check your culture. In the same way that software powers the hardware in your electronic devices, your culture drives your thinking around sustainability and innovation. If sustainability is not on your radar, you may find yourself missing a trick.

This is a really big topic and your customers may soon start challenging you for evidence of your commitment to it. Consider writing a policy document to show your seriousness to your organisation and other stakeholders.

Include sustainability in your strategy.

When it comes to developing your plans for key areas like product sourcing, supply chain and your own operations, conduct an audit of your current practices. Perhaps you might appoint an internal champion to be your internal watch-dog.

Ask probing questions to challenge your status quo. Within your current product

Another such company is VivaGreen, an Irish manufacturer that launched the Tru Eco range in 2020. Driven by the founders, Russell and Garrett Walsh have produced innovative products made from sustainable resources. VivaGreen ensures its products are made from plant-based and biodegradable ingredients and it works hard to develop products that meet consumers’ needs, while also trying to protect the environment.

Tru Eco for example, is a range of Irishmade refillable, eco-friendly laundry and household cleaning products. The range is made up of an all-purpose cleaner, washing-up liquid, non-bio laundry detergent and fabric softener. Each bottle is made from 100 per cent recycled plastic, creating a circular economy product that is reusable, recyclable, and refillable. The products are guaranteed Irish, vegan-friendly, cruelty-free, and septic tank safe.

The brand also offers a refill solution, which closes the loop on plastic waste.

By refilling, consumers can reduce their environmental footprint, minimise plastic waste as well as lowering carbon emissions.

portfolio and supply-chain, ask yourself how you can build in sustainability. Are your raw materials and product components respecting the environment? Can you shorten your supply chain? Can you make appropriate changes to your own operations to reduce your carbon foot-print?

Can you gain competitive advantage with products that appeal to a more select and discerning consumer?

THE LAST WORD In the last six months, I have facilitated several strategy sessions with clients from around the world. In every single one, I encouraged the teams to consider sustainability in their thinking. Being sustainable no longer has to be an extra cost. I believe that this is no longer a ‘nice to do’, it’s a business imperative. I’m happy to say that actions were agreed without resistance or cynicism in every case.

By the way, most of these strategy sessions were done online from my desk, without having to clock up airmiles. I’m not at all saying that it is a permanent solution as online is just not the same dynamic as a real physical meeting. Nevertheless, the future demands a hybrid solution, further supporting the green agenda.

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ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/TARIKVISION

The Brief / Clean Energy

Harnessing the power of hydrogen in the UAE The Hydrogen Leadership Roadmap is a welcome step, but the UAE must develop a robust regulatory framework to fully capitalise on this opportunity

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ydrogen has a critical role to play in the global energy transition. While many countries are looking to capture a proportion of the market opportunity, the UAE is poised to become a leader and key exporter of this energy carrier.

Both Abu Dhabi and Dubai are well-placed to capture the hydrogen opportunity. In fact, the Department of Energy in Abu Dhabi approved a Position Paper in December 2020, following which Mubadala, ADNOC and ADQ formed an alliance in January 2021 to establish Abu Dhabi as a hub for green and blue hydrogen.

Similarly, Dubai has inaugurated a green hydrogen plant in May 2021, the first-of-its-kind in the MENA region to use solar power for production.

It is designed to accommodate test platforms for transportation and industrial uses. Beyond this,

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MENA nations already have almost 8GW of electrolyser projects in the pipeline to 2030.

A PROMISING LOCAL ENVIRONMENT

The UAE has long been at the centre of the global energy supply market and brings with it robust experience, a strong asset base, and important geo-political relationships and partnerships which will be key to determining the future of import and export dynamics.

Meanwhile, an abundance of low-cost gas combined with CCUS potential, will see the UAE become a leader in the export of blue hydrogen (or ammonia). In addition, it benefits from access to some of the cheapest renewable energy sources on the planet – solar power.

Progress is already underway with the UAE’s Hydrogen Leadership Roadmap launched in gulfbusiness.com

“DECARBONISING THIS ‘GREY’ HYDROGEN SHOULD KEEP EARLY LOW CARBON HYDROGEN PRODUCERS BUSY FOR SOME TIME BEFORE EVEN CONSIDERING ALTERNATIVE USE CASES IN APPLICATIONS SUCH AS HEAVY GOODS VEHICLES (HGVS) IN TRANSPORT, BACKUP POWER (FUEL CELLS OR GTS), AND HEAT IN INDUSTRY OR BUILDINGS”

ADVANCING STRATEGY, POLICY AND REGULATION

The Hydrogen Leadership Roadmap is a welcome step but for the UAE to fully capitalise on this opportunity, it must also address key fundamentals such as developing a robust regulatory framework, working with the international community to implement certification schemes and technical standards, as well as establishing a licensing process.

ADDRESSING THE MIDSTREAM QUESTION

gulfbusiness.com

A DOSE OF REALITY REQUIRED DOWNSTREAM

COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS

RISING UPSTREAM COMPETITION

Safely and economically transporting and storing large volumes of hydrogen across continents is a major challenge but one that must be overcome for a globally traded hydrogen/low carbon gas market to emerge. Hydrogen must be converted to ammonia to be shipped today and we may see existing ammonia supply chains grow and be utilised for hydrogen, but this will likely only make economic sense where the end use is ammonia. For hydrogen supply chains to become a reality, there are significant technical, economic, efficiency and scale challenges that need to be overcome. This could present a medium-term

opportunity for UAE to grow its industrial base and become a global leader in producing high demand products such as green steel.

Just because hydrogen can be used in a vast range of applications, doesn’t mean it should be. For example, decarbonising existing (CO₂ intensive) hydrogen demand may be a wise place to start as it requires minimal investment/conversion capex for offtakers.

According to the IEA, global hydrogen demand was around 90 Mt in 2020, with 80 per cent from mostly unabated fossil fuels and the remainder from residual gases produced mainly in refineries. Decarbonising this ‘grey’ hydrogen should keep early low carbon hydrogen producers busy for some time before even considering alternative use cases in applications such as heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) in transport, backup power (fuel cells or GTs), and heat in industry or buildings.

November 2021 – a comprehensive national blueprint to support domestic, low-carbon industries, contribute to the nation’s net-zero ambition, and establish the country as a competitive exporter of hydrogen.

However, there are a number of challenges that must be addressed for these ambitions to become a reality. These include:

It appears many regions are now aspiring to become the new “Middle East for hydrogen”. For example, South American countries are already looking to develop supply chains in Europe, and North Africa’s proximity to Southern Europe puts it in a strategic position to potentially supply low carbon gas into the European market. In this brave new world, new players from regions with access to low-cost renewables will enter the energy supply market. This will drive competition and for organisations and regions to develop new relationships and drive innovation. There have been already some international agreements signed, and local stakeholders must invest in global outreach to keep up with the pace and scale of change.

Sudhir Arvind, partner, head of energy sector, KPMG Lower Gulf

GLOBAL HYDROGEN DEMAND WAS AROUND

90 MT

IN 2020, WITH 80 PER CENT FROM MOSTLY UNABATED FOSSIL FUELS AND THE REMAINDER FROM RESIDUAL GASES PRODUCED MAINLY IN REFINERIES

MENA NATIONS ALREADY HAVE ALMOST

8GW

OF ELECTROLYSER PROJECTS IN THE PIPELINE TO 2030

Power and gas markets are becomingly increasingly integrated, which will see new partnerships emerge between energy companies, coalitions form across governments, and significant rise in deal activity as global energy players begin to reposition themselves and ensure they are well placed to capitalise on the opportunity. For many, partnerships or alliances will be preferred to pure mergers and acquisitions, with the ultimate goal to secure and de-risk the supply chain, assets and infrastructure, competitive financing, and end demand markets. This requires the industry to collaborate and think broadly when structuring equitable ventures, where all parties feel their assets, knowledge, IP or markets are appropriately valued. It will be important to set up a “partnerships” teams that can both identify external opportunities as well as effectively articulate what value they bring to the table.

LOOKING AHEAD

The development of a global hydrogen market will be an evolution rather than revolution. It is a transition that will happen in stages and will present discreet opportunities in new markets that energy companies globally can capitalise on.

The first step is to set up basic infrastructure within the country: establishing a regulatory framework, standards, and business models across the value chain. Subsequently, it will become a matter of vital importance to build capability and skills within the country, and identify the right strategic partners for this journey.

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The Brief / Mobility COMMENT

Moving forward...

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/WORAYUTH KAMONSUWAN

... sustainable transportation is going to be integral to cities down the road

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ities are home to businesses, entertainment, policymakers and billions of citizens who thrive in the vibrant and dynamic urban environment. Despite the global pandemic, their growth has not slowed, and they continue to move rapidly toward the future. There are significant opportunities and challenges, which come with the evolution of cities across the societies and communities that live in them. One of the key opportunities is transportation, which also comes with many challenges.

The transportation sector is undergoing an enormous transition as nations actively seek strategies to operate more sustainably. A core aspect of sustainable living in an urban environment is efficient transportation. With the rate of urbanisation ramping up, the demand for more sustainable and carbon-neutral options for mobility is also increasing.

Modern mobility infrastructure must operate efficiently while minimising downtime and total ownership cost to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

A CARBON-NEUTRAL FUTURE

roads by 2030. This is a massive 30-fold increase from that of today. More than one million electric buses are expected to be introduced across five continents. It is forecast that by 2030, the electricity required to power these electric vehicles (EVs) will exceed 500 TerawattHour (TWh). By 2040, EVs will comprise close to ten per cent of the global energy demand.

A carbon-neutral society requires more than filling cities with EVs. To accommodate these changes in the world’s energy systems and achieve the vision of sustainable cities, the world’s energy systems need to keep up with this rapid evolution. Installing energy systems that can serve as the backbone for future cities while simultaneously keeping costs affordable is crucial for success.

OVER 100 MILLION ELECTRIC CARS

PROJECTED TO BE ON ROADS BY 2030

Over 100 million electric cars are projected to be on 14

November 2022

gulfbusiness.com

Dr Mostafa AlGuezeri, managing director for UAE and its oversight countries, Hitachi Energy

The world needs to come together and agree upon a common energymobility system. Electric networks must comprise two essential building blocks – an intelligent, convenient, widespread and standardised charging infrastructure and an adaptable and digitally-enhanced grid infrastructure capable of storing and transferring large volumes of renewable power.

One of the biggest challenges standing in the way of this new energy-mobility system is bringing various industrial sectors together to follow a common standard. This extends not just to technology, but also business models, regulations and policies. For instance, when a public transport operator switches from the internal combustion engine to electric propulsion, it must decide on the energy source to integrate its network within the urban environment. On the other hand, electricity providers will need to provide new infrastructure in their networks that can support new forms of energy ‘take-out.’

Suppose companies, governments and other relevant organisations across multiple industries do not collaborate closely. In that case, there is a risk that the infrastructure and vehicles are not optimised and that they don’t work together cohesively.

This dissonance between the various systems will inevitably result in future retrofits, which will be expensive and unsustainable.

AN EMERGING MARKET

However, as we move forward, it is important to keep in mind that the electric mobility market is still emerging. Right now, a fraction of the cars on the road are electric, which is why energy providers seek to install only one, localised charger without attempting to integrate it into a larger electric grid that serves an existing fleet operation, be it for

BY 2040, EVS WILL COMPRISE CLOSE TO 10 PER CENT OF THE GLOBAL ENERGY DEMAND

personal use EVs or electric public transportation.

However, the volume of energy consumption by EVs is gradually scaling up from kilowatts to megawatts which signals an optimistic future for the proposed energy-mobility system.

Despite the certainty of the conclusion, there are still critical questions about how to get there.

There needs to be an open dialogue and strong cooperation between the expert stakeholders to address these questions.

THE RIGHT SOLUTION

MORE THAN ONE MILLION ELECTRIC BUSES ARE EXPECTED TO BE INTRODUCED ACROSS FIVE CONTINENTS

“A GREAT EXAMPLE OF A SOLUTION THAT TAKES A SYSTEM-WIDE APPROACH IS THE ELECTRIC MOBILITY HUB. THESE HUBS ARE CHARGING CENTRES THAT WILL FACILITATE THE SWITCH TO DIGITAL MOBILITY-ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND PREVENT POTENTIALLY MESSY, INEFFICIENT AND DISPARATE CHARGING SYSTEMS” gulfbusiness.com

A great example of a solution that takes a systemwide approach is the electric mobility hub. These hubs are charging centres that will facilitate the switch to digital mobility-energy management and prevent potentially messy, inefficient and disparate charging systems. Additionally, these hubs can be incorporated into our existing infrastructure with relative ease. A vast network of such hubs can be installed in structures such as parking garages for cars and bus depots for buses.

These hubs will provide a digital platform for fleet management and energy flows. They can optimise energy conservation and affordability locally and operate flexibly on and off the grid. Irrespective of how EV technology evolves and energy demand changes, municipalities can enact a greater degree of control over how they upgrade their infrastructure moving forward.

We also need to develop intelligent energy grids which can maintain the appropriate balance between highly variable energy supply and demand while simultaneously supporting all forms of storage systems.

The existing grids can be adapted to become intelligent with recent advancements in grid technology such as HVDC, Statcom and Grid Edge, which can be adapted to cloud platforms through digital connectivity.

These technologies and many others will not only upgrade existing systems, but create new corridors of energy while massively reducing our overall carbon footprint. This will empower the new energymobility system to deliver upon our desire for greater green consciousness.

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The Brief / ESG COMMENT

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/NANANO

case of personal responsibility. With UAE having a firm grip on ESG and up and coming ESG regulations, corporates must stay focused on maximising the opportunities through ESG-driven transformation by getting ahead of the game. It’s therefore inevitable that CEO executives get more and more linked to ESG targets.

Leading the charge Five reasons why CEOs should be the “force” driving sustainability

E

nvironmental, social, and governance (ESG) imperatives are now front and centre for Middle East businesses and governments alike.

Further, with the UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative and a national drive to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 in line with the country’s roadmap for accelerating national economic development, organisations conducting business in the country aim to support and steer the UAE towards a green and circular tomorrow.

In fact, the UAE has been a trendsetter for climate change and is fully embracing ESG reporting with investors and consumers keen for businesses to be ESG compliant. ESG concerns are the top priority of most Middle East investors today, Historically, CEOs have been responsible for the profitability of the organisation, leading the development and execution of long-term strategies with the goal of increasing shareholder – better yet, stakeholders – value. But the present time calls for over and beyond – the overall success of the organisation, anchored on sustainability These are far and few – only the woke ones. All CEOs and their boardrooms should, in fact, watch out for ESG 16

November 2022

very earnestly. From global climate frameworks to regional carbon-reduction pacts, to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), new policies and regulations, as well as global reporting initiatives and duties, sustainability is designed to forge a new world and “compel” C-suite execs that still think it’s a buzzword down that path.

Here are the top five reasons why CEOs should be leading the drive for sustainability.

01. CEOS ARE PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ESG Whether they like it or not. Now the question of such personal liability for ESG breaches has been answered by the latest developments at Deutsche Bank, for example. On June 1, chief executive of Deutsche Bank subsidiary DWS Asoka Woehrmann resigned after German law officials stormed offices over claims that the company exaggerated the sustainable credentials of some of its financial products. This happened right after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released fines of more than $1m to BNY Mellon for misstatements and omissions about ESG in specific managed funds. Undoubtedly a

02. RISKS AND REGULATIONS ARE KEY ESG COMPONENTS OF THE CEO’S AGENDA As organisations adopt sustainability practices, climate incidents, emissions or transitional risks inherent to changing strategies around planet and people, as well as physical risks directly related to global warming occur. At the same time, regulations in each industry and region are now a necessity to support the UN SDGs. There is certainly a strong call for more government guidance and policies on ESG in the Middle East and in line with each country’s agenda, such as Net Zero 2050 for UAE. Corporates and businesses are clearly looking forward to more, better and clearer ESG regulation in the near future, given that these are still evolving in the region.

As per PwC’s ESG 2022 Middle East survey report, more businesses are now setting net zero targets since the time UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain governments set their national net zero commitments around COP26 in 2021. This is a significant improvement since end 2021 when PwC’s 25th Annual Global CEO Survey was carried out.

Companies need to mitigate risks, comply with regulations, put procedures and policies in place to ensure resilience.

This needs C-level buy-in, as it requires transformation and excellence in everything you do, thus this belongs on a boardroom’s agenda.

03. SUSTAINABILITY IS ALL ABOUT FINANCE Eighty-six per cent of Eurozone CEOs believe ESG is an important value driver, even more critical than revenue growth.

In 2021, Larry Fink from Blackrock set the scene with his CEO letter: “I believe that this is the beginning of a long but rapidly accelerating transition – one that will unfold over many years and reshape asset gulfbusiness.com

46%

OF INVESTORS prices of every type. We know that climate risk is investment risk. But we also believe the climate transition presents a historic investment opportunity.”

As stated before, the EU taxonomy requires companies to report on their environmental, social and governance actions.

Not only in the EU, but also in North America. The SEC is currently preparing new disclosure requirements.

That applies to the Global Reporting Initiative, the Value Balancing Alliance, the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, international sustainability standards, you name it. All these reporting frameworks require corporations to disclose their goals and progress on climate and society.

In fact, 46 per cent of investors use ESG indicators in making investment decisions, with consumers increasingly requesting more sustainable products and services. As the trend continues to grow, this leads to increased interest from chief financial officers.

04. ESG (NON) ACTIONS IMPACT BRAND REPUTATION A 2021 survey by Deloitte of more than 2,000 C-level executives across 21 countries found that 74 per cent reported regulation as the main external ESG driver, and 77 per cent reported pressure from governments to act on climate change and regulators. Eight out of 10 CEOs even believed

USE ESG INDICATORS IN MAKING INVESTMENT DECISIONS, WITH CONSUMERS INCREASINGLY REQUESTING MORE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

that ESG issues were increasingly important to be discussed. Seventy-five per cent of that pressure comes from customers and clients; 65 per cent of that pressure comes from staff: young consumers and workers are increasingly demanding that social responsibility comes first. Seventy-five per cent of consumers are changing their preferences based on sustainability, and 46 per cent of employees would only work for a company with sustainable practices.

Whatever industry you are in, your customers will take a deep look at your business practices, and your activities will either make or break trust. They are looking for green producers trying to reduce the environmental impact.

In the Middle East for example, a region that is heavily dependent on oil and natural gas for its energy supply, decarbonisation becomes a major conversation. Hence with the region’s circular economy approach, the energy sector will be able to witness several benefits, more value and elevated brand reputation with increased investor interest.

Fast fashion brands are also making bold statements on sustainability while still substantially contributing to massive amounts of waste, water pollution or

Josèphe Blondaut, director ARIS Global Marketing – Software AG

labour conditions. In less obvious industries, such as banking, greenwashing allegations can be dangerous for the image of your company, and you must be able to back up your statements with real proof.

05. SUSTAINABILITY IS A CORE STRATEGIC TASK As we saw with all the above examples, sustainability impacts all business areas and operations and revolutionises how your business works. It requires deep transformation of your operations based on strategic decisions, for example, to support UN SDG number 8 to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. Sustainability only becomes real when it comes down to processes.

To support climate action, you need to take a deep look at how your enterprise operates and where the potential and challenges are with your processes. Circular business models rely on a redesign of the processes. Social responsibility is anchored in the business processes, and ESG reporting sums it all up, needing insight into the business.

A CEO is responsible for envisioning, nominating and enabling the company’s vision and sustainability strategy.

This strong change needs to be enforced

by C-level commitment to mature and increase resilience.

Bob De Caux, vice president of automation at IFS

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/ROMEOCANE1

Showcasing sustainability Why tools that aid reporting hold the key to ESG success

E

very business now has a sustainability manifesto, or at least a stated ambition to operate more efficiently, ethically and responsibly. However, as this metric becomes more and more

gulfbusiness.com

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The Brief / ESG

deploy solutions that can confirm data’s connection with environmental, social and governance (ESG) ambitions. There are ESG add-on solutions, or even bespoke ESG frameworks within wider products which directly allow users to produce reports and map statistics for progress around said ESG bucket.

This could be used, for example, for CO₂ emissions of vehicles, building a remit for the automation tool deployed to gather information around emissions per vehicle and to generate reports around that specific statistic. However, this is only stage one of the digitisation journey.

significant in the eyes of customers, employers, regulators, auditors and partners, how can companies go on to prove that this declared vision is yielding tangible outcomes?

And how can that group of onlookers be sure that organisations are practising what they preach?

From both sides of the fence, there is a need for data – indisputable evidence that the technologies and innovations being deployed to enhance sustainability performance are hitting their mark.

In this regard, digital tools that can aid sustainability reporting are as important as any other weapon in businesses’ digital transformation armouries.

THE DATA DELUGE It’s certainly not the case that data is unavailable to companies, which seems like a good start.

Parallel to this rightful obsession with sustainability is a separate obsession with the capturing, storing and analysis of data that can theoretically aid decision-making from that point on.

This is where the challenge arises, however. The data deluge that is occurring as a consequence, is often unguided by an initial reason and rationale, or a strategic roadmap for what companies want to improve at the other end of the automation filter. The result is companies drowning in a sea of data, generated by numerous, often misunderstood, tools which can’t be tied together to create meaningful statistics.

Sustainability is one of many metrics to suffer when it comes to the fostering of these progress reports, which also puts pay to an ultimate ability to showcase sustainability credentials to the wider industry. What this disconnect, and inability to generate clear reports, also leads to, is a sense of confusion about how to proceed from there.

If you can’t clearly see where you’re currently at from a sustainability perspective, how do you know where to improve, invest or refine from that point on?

DIRECT DIGITISATION What businesses need is dedicated software targeted towards outcomes, not simply towards the data itself. Artificial Intelligence (AI), in particular machine learning, provides fantastic, necessary tools, but they’re only responsible for interpreting the data they’re being fed, and generating patterns as a result. If these results aren’t focused on specific outcomes and designated strategies, then it becomes extremely difficult to wade through that chaos and find what you’re looking for. And, of course, if there isn’t a strategy guiding the machines, there is also unlikely to be clear guidance for even the best data scientists to follow, either. The solution is to, firstly, 18

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DRIVING FUTURE PROGRESS Stage two then has to be an embedded function which not only aids reporting but then points towards solutions and optimisations.

Going back to the vehicle emissions example – great, you now have clear visibility over this sustainability metric; but what can your company now do to improve those statistics? Organisations should be looking into bespoke ESG frameworks where data isn’t just more targeted and therefore visible, but it becomes a launching pad for decisions beyond that. After all, reporting, at its core, is more than just an audit document. It’s a gauge of where things are going well, and where they’re not. And only with that level of transparency can reports drive future progress.

REPORTING, AT ITS CORE, IS MORE THAN JUST AN AUDIT DOCUMENT IT’S A GAUGE OF WHERE THINGS ARE GOING WELL, AND WHERE THEY’RE NOT AND ONLY WITH THAT LEVEL OF TRANSPARENCY CAN REPORTS DRIVE FUTURE PROGRESS

DON’T FALL BEHIND In the outcome-based service world that we are currently moving towards, sustainability epitomises what businesses should be striving for across all metrics. A single source of truth to confirm how efficient your business is can set the tone for a more connected and targeted automation framework across the whole business.

Analysts and AI feed off what you precisely want to achieve, while the data being yielded and reported on will give clear pictures of where improvements are required. For those who are already hitting ESG expectations, they will also now have a way to showcase that ability and differentiate themselves in the eyes of those aforementioned onlookers. Just like implicated organisations, service providers are also feeling their way into this environment, and bespoke frameworks as part of broader automation products will only become more advanced in the months and years to come. But if the past two years have taught us anything, this is no time to fall behind. Connecting data to sustainability via bespoke reporting mechanisms that can also inform future decisions is the holy grail for everyone wanting to flex their ESG muscles. gulfbusiness.com

The Brief / Digital Solutions COMMENT

Caspar Herzberg, COO AVEVA

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/SESAME

A well-designed industrial software strategy drives sustainable value creation, enabling diverse industries to save energy, reduce emissions and waste, boost circularity throughout engineering and operations, and maximise sustainable performance.

HERE ARE WAYS THAT DIGITAL SOLUTIONS CAN HELP BUSINESSES REALISE THEIR NETZERO TARGETS...

The tools to support net zero are already here – let’s use them From carbon measurement to hyper efficient value chains, digital solutions can enable industrial firms to simultaneously boost productivity and decarbonise

T

he world is on the cusp of transformation. Global leaders are faced with a golden – yet short-term – window of opportunity to help shape a sustainable planet.

Transitioning to a carbon-free world is one of the greatest challenges businesses face today. Achieving international net-zero emissions by 2050 is an ambitious and critical target that demands a global economic transformation.

But the good news is software already exists today to allow companies to reach net zero – and it is affordable and accessible.

Data-led industrial solutions are already helping support the energy transition, while delivering significant productivity and sustainability gains across the spectrum.

Analysis from Accenture reveals that today’s digital technologies could drive up to 20 per cent of the 2050 reduction needed to hit the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) net-zero trajectories in the energy, materials and mobility industries.

Early technology adopters have already witnessed how digital transformation can slash costs by up to 30 per cent, while driving production and yield improvements at rates of up to 10 per cent, according to McKinsey.

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IMPROVE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCIES Efficiency remains the biggest sustainability driver.

This is because equipment downtime can deplete productivity, profitability, and also resource efficiency. Advance warning of potential equipment failures helps to mitigate issues, while also driving long-term sustainability.

A case in point is biodiesel producer REG. Until recently, the Iowa-based company used an external vendor to detect performance anomalies in the centrifuge units that support its clean fuel production.

The vendor suggests optimal maintenance tweaks that have minimal downtime, cost and revenue impacts on production lines. However, until recently this centrifuge data was tracked manually, meaning that the vendor’s analyses and suggestions were often outdated before they could be implemented.

Today, REG has implemented a scalable cloud platform which integrates both system and vendor operational data in a two-way flow: anomalies are now detected, and issues identified, in near-real time. This type of set up can reduce reactivity and minimise equipment downtime by up to 90 per cent.

INTRODUCE CARBON EMISSIONS MODELLING Global hydrocarbons giant BP aims to transition from an international oil company to an integrated energy company by 2030, and achieve net zero across its operations on an absolute basis by 2050. To achieve its ambitious targets, BP must accurately gauge how every operation affects its carbon emissions.

The oil company already drives business value by using cloud software to identify the optimal oil balance and operating plans for its refineries and downstream networks. The company’s single integrated software suite allows its teams to make quick, accurate decisions in response to real-time market and operating conditions. The firm’s analysts can now get answers in just over three minutes, rather than seven hours.

Now, BP has added CO₂ modelling capabilities into its incumbent solution. This additional modelling layer empowers BP to November 2022

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The Brief / Digital Solutions COMMENT INTEGRATING DATA WITH RIGOROUS MODELLING AND AI, AND SHARING THAT OVER THE CLOUD ENABLES FIRMS TO TRANSFORM THE WAY THE ENERGY INDUSTRY OPERATES

understand and evaluate the impact of CO₂ emissions for different scenarios, and to identify the most carbon-intensive aspects of any scenario. Energy can now be produced with minimal CO₂ impact, representing a significant step towards net zero.

WIN-WIN SCENARIOS The right software programme can also help power companies facilitate compliance with ESG regulations and support partners’ net-zero commitments.

A case in point is US power leader Dominion Energy, which gathers and shares data from across its North American grid network. Its cloud-based information management platform allows Dominion’s team to turn power grid data into a new source of revenue.

Dominion’s performance data lets its customers track their sustainability commitments and prove the firm is using energy from low-carbon sources.

This, in turn, enables Dominion’s customers to provide proof of their own net-zero commitments to investors and environmental, social and governance (ESG) auditors. As a result, Dominion is helping to accelerate the low carbon energy transition in North America, while also boosting its profitability and realising a 50 per cent increase in speed-to-market for vital environmental data.

UNLOCKING THE ‘NETWORK’ EFFECT Delivering net zero requires energy sector companies to prioritise decarbonised value chains without sacrificing performance. Unifying both priorities into a single-window interface supports organisational decision-making at every level, while also giving valued business suppliers and partners access to transparent, informative data.

Integrating data with rigorous modelling and artificial intelligence, and sharing that over the cloud enables firms to transform the way the energy industry operates, empowering companies to track and drive decarbonisation through complex value chains across the industrial ecosystem.

Today’s tools offer up a tremendous opportunity for industries to operate collectively to build new and more sustainable business models in our connected industrial economy.

This coming decade of action is charged with the opportunity to accelerate the path to net zero. Companies that proactively embed data throughout their value chain will be the first to reap the opportunities of our new era.

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Waste to worthy Advanced biofuels, made from plant-based waste material, can help decarbonise the road, aviation and maritime sectors

I

t would be short sighted to suggest that there is a single unified answer to the world’s decarbonisation problems. From the electrification of consumer cars to renewable energies, innovative energy storage and advanced fuels, each will play a crucial role on the path to net zero.

However, for the planet to reach net neutrality by 2050 and for us to realistically meet those targets, we need solutions which are actionable and scalable at the present time.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the transport sector contributes approximately one quarter of all energy related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Advanced fuels – also known as second generation biofuels – are a clear contender to help decarbonise that sector, today.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FEEDSTOCK PROVENANCE When speaking of biofuels, it is important to make gulfbusiness.com

The Brief / Biofuels Nicholas Ball, CEO - XFuel

“BEYOND THEIR SUSTAINABILITY AND SCALABILITY POTENTIAL, ADVANCED FUELS ALREADY EXIST IN THE FORM OF DROP-IN REPLACEMENTS TO THEIR FOSSIL FUEL COUNTERPARTS”

LIGNOCELLULOSIC WASTE, THE WASTE OF CHOICE Lignocellulosic biomass is a plant-based material which happens to be the most abundant raw material on earth. Its waste material is not used for food and is the feedstock of choice for advanced fuels.

LIGNOCELLULOSIC BIOMASS IS A PLANT-BASED MATERIAL WHICH HAPPENS TO BE THE MOST ABUNDANT RAW MATERIAL ON EARTH

gulfbusiness.com

THE LIMITED SUPPLY OF HVOS HAS DRIVEN PRICES UP CONSIDERABLY, WITH PRICES UP TO

2.5 TIMES HIGHER THAN PRE-2021 LEVELS

Currently, the most widely available second-generation biofuel on the market is hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO). This liquid fuel is derived from waste vegetable oils, such as sunflower or palm oil, and animal fats

Lignocellulosic waste can come in the shape of waste from the manufacturing, construction, agriculture, or forestry sectors. It can include the residue, shavings and waste, which are not used when creating everyday home essentials such as a kitchen cabinet, or olive pips and nut shells that are removed from processing agricultural products and which would otherwise be disposed of or incinerated.

According to a recent study by consulting firm McKinsey, new advanced feedstocks will be necessary to meet the growing demand for sustainable fuels.

In its analysis of fuel demand by feedstock type, the study found that lignocellulosic waste will account for a third of all sustainable fuel feedstock by 2040.

Beyond their sustainability and scalability potential, advanced fuels already exist in the form of drop-in replacements to their fossil fuel counterparts. This means that the physical and chemical characteristics of such fuels allow them to be used with existing engines and infrastructure, without the need for modification or additional capital.

NOT ALL WASTE IS CREATED EQUAL Currently, the most widely available secondgeneration biofuel on the market is hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO). This liquid fuel is derived from waste vegetable oils, such as sunflower or palm oil, and animal fats. These oils are difficult to collect at scale and hence would fail to replace a significant amount of fossil fuels.

What’s more, the limited supply of HVOs has driven prices up considerably, with prices up to 2.5 times higher than pre-2021 levels, analysis by campaign group Transport & Environment has revealed. This has contributed to vegetable oils showing the highest price increases amongst all food products globally, even before the UkraineRussia crisis.

When it comes to advancing climate goals on the road to net zero, it is all hands on deck. Yet it is clear that sustainable advanced fuels must play a core role on that journey, by bringing sustainable scalable fuels to the table. They offer a fast and practical solution to decarbonising the transport sector today – this must not be overlooked.

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ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/HANNA SIAMASHKA

a clear distinction between the different types of feedstocks used in fuel production.

A feedstock is the raw ingredient used to create a biofuel. For biofuels to fulfill their role and efficiently support the decarbonisation of the transport sector, the feedstock used in clean fuel production must be sustainably sourced, available in abundance and, preferably, locally sourced. This would ensure the fuel’s green credentials, as well as its ability to scale in order to meet current and growing demand.

Traditional, first-generation biofuels have become increasingly problematic due to their reliance on food crops as feedstock. The use of crops means that first generation biofuels have the potential to adversely impact food security as food production finds itself competing with crops for biofuels. This comes in addition to affecting land use, harming biodiversity and, in certain cases, contributing to deforestation.

Furthermore, volatile grain commodity markets often impact prices, as seen with the current geopolitical situation with Ukraine and Russia.

Advanced second generation biofuels avoid these limitations by using waste rather than crops as feedstock.

The Brief / Plastic Circularity

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/CSA IMAGES

COMMENT

The future of packaging While the plastic industry struggles to close its circularity loop, there are other sustainable options available in the packaging industry

T

here are 8.3 billion tonnes of plastics in the world – 6.3 billion tonnes constitute trash. Plastic represents 44 per cent of global packaging consumption. Its production started in the 50s and has been exponentially growing for the past seven decades, under the motto “Plastic is Fantastic”. Yet, in 2020, there was a sudden change – plastic production started to go down. The decrease was mostly from the European market.

We’ve now become more aware that the use of plastic is harmful to our planet. As the value proposition of plastic cannot be easily replicated, we are looking for alternatives to improve its circularity and replacing part of it with easier-to-recycle materials such as glass, aluminium and paper. New bioplastics are also seeing the light of day.

What will be the future of packaging? How will we achieve shifting to a more ecological solution? Which solutions are the most credible ones?

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November 2022

GLASS STILL HAS A SIGNIFICANT SHARE IN THE PACKAGING INDUSTRY WITH A MARKET SIZE OF

OVER $50BN

TOWARDS PLASTIC CIRCULARITY As plastic has become a central material for packaging and as it is hard to replace, the most straightforward option would be to improve its circularity. By redesigning and rethinking packages in the first place, they could be easier to collect and recycle.

In 2020, 10.2 million tonnes of plastic were sent to recycling facilities globally.

Yet, 93 per cent of the global polymer demand is virgin plastic. The rest are mostly plastics recycled mechanically.

The process of mechanical recycling itself does not suffice a total shift into circularity, as it is more expensive than virgin plastic while having fewer applications. To compensate for this lack of efficiency, the industry has been investing in molecular recycling, also known as advanced recycling. This method is commonly breaking down and purifying plastic waste to make it odourless, colourless and deprived of contaminants. In other words, advanced recycling is looking for a solution to make a virgin-like resin. The process is achieved by using chemicals, pyrolysis or other non-chemical substitutes.

The use of advanced recycling is expected to grow to become up to 10 per cent of the annual plastic use by 2040. Yet, one question mark remains. Is advanced recycling really sustainable? This process can be very consuming in terms of energy or very polluting in terms of chemicals used in the process.

In the following years, the sector will require a considerable investment and its sustainability would have to be evaluated.

SUBSTITUTES TO PLASTIC: THE OUTSIDERS While the plastic industry struggles to close its circularity loop, three other sustainable options are available in the packaging industry: glass, aluminium and paper.

Unlike plastic which is a pretty young invention in the history of humankind, glass was discovered centuries ago. The first hollow glass container was created by the Egyptians in 1500 B.C. Its use was highly democratised during the Roman Empire, with the invention of the blowpipe. It was the beginning of glass as we know it today.

Glass is a simple material, yet it has many great properties. It is infinitely recyclable without loss of material, it is odourless and thus infinitely reusable.

Its circularity loop has been closed long ago. At the gulfbusiness.com

Clément Maclou, portfolio manager, ODDO BHF Switzerland

the end of the 19th century, the first milk glass bottle was patented and along with it emerged milkmen.

They would come to one’s door, bring fresh milk in the morning and take empty bottles to reuse. It was a simple circular economy. We actually stopped using this closed loop with the appearance of refrigerators in the 30s. It is only now that we are getting back to its simplicity with the apparition of bulk stores. Glass still has a significant share in the packaging industry with a market size of over $50bn.

While glass is often seen as a viable sustainable option, its recycling is more expensive and less ecological than the one of aluminium. Due to the weight of glass, emissions of transporting and cooling cans are 35 per cent to 49 per cent lower than the one of glass bottles. For this reason, since the 80s, the secondary market of recycled aluminium has been growing. As a result, almost 75 per cent of aluminium ever produced globally is still in use today.

Aluminium cans on the market today contain 73 per cent of recycled content, which is 12 times more than PET and three times more than glass.

The market for aluminium has a value over $50bn. With growth at a CAGR of 4.4 per cent, aluminium is a sustainable option which is getting more and more adopted by final consumers.

Paper is also a good sustainable option.

It can be recycled five to seven times. In the US, the recycling rate is 68 per cent. Yet, unlike aluminium, paper is not infinitely reusable; we will always need more raw material to provide resources. The pulp and paper industry is also known to have

PLASTIC REPRESENTS

44 PER CENT

OF THE GLOBAL PACKAGING CONSUMPTION

gulfbusiness.com

“THE USE OF ADVANCED RECYCLING IS EXPECTED TO GROW TO BECOME UP TO 10 PER CENT OF THE ANNUAL PLASTIC USE BY 2040. YET, ONE QUESTION MARK REMAINS. IS ADVANCED RECYCLING REALLY SUSTAINABLE?” a high water consumption. To produce one sheet of A4 paper, the industry requires 20 litres of water. The overall paper market is expected to grow at a low to mid-single digit compounded annual growth rate, or CAGR. Still, paper appears as a more sustainable option than plastic. Its market share in the packaging sector is increasing, as we see more and more brands switching from plastic to paper bags and wrapping paper. For example, Danone Waters aims to eliminate the use of virgin plastic from its packaging.

To do so, they introduced Combismile, a paper bottle by Swiss leader SIG Combibloc.

BIO-PLASTIC, THE NEWCOMER On the other side of classic materials, newcomers re-invented plastic in a more sustainable way, to create bio-plastic.

There are two main attributes to biopolymers making them greener than their conventional alternative: bio-sourcing and

biodegradability. The total capacity of the market to this date is 2.42 million tonnes and almost half of it is in Asia. One third of the bio-polymers are bio-sourced, but not bio-degradable, and two thirds are biodegradable.

Bio-sourced polymer manufacturing requires any type of carbon source.

Nowadays, the first sources are crops and oils, which makes it attached to a commoditytype cost variation. While some biopolymers are sourced from food supplies, others can be produced using industrial waste or crop scraps, avoiding the issue of using food that is suitable for humans or animals . The next generation, which is until now a bit of a science-fiction, will be directly made from carbon molecules.

Today, the most commonly produced biopolymers are PLA and PBAT. Their production cost is competitive, but their price is kept higher than the one of traditional polymers. PBAT is a fossil-sourced biodegradable soft plastic. PLA is a rigid plastic resembling PET. The market of PLA is capital intensive; therefore, it is mainly composed of big players, who nowadays have no interest in growing outside of the food segment, in order to secure a high price. Bio-degradable plastics should be used only where they make sense and where they add value.

Still, for the final consumers, a confusion remains. What does bio-degradable mean?

Some polymers, such as PLA, require industrial composting. They need high temperature to degrade, while others, like PBAT, can biocompost. They can be left in soil and degrade in less than a year.

The downside of bio-polymers is that when they are mixed with other recyclable polymers, they make the recycling process more complicated. Throughout the following years, countries will have to legislate highly on which polymer has to be used for which product and educate the population to recycle their plastics properly to make a difference.

In the end, maybe the future of packaging will be no packaging at all. As the growing production of plastic is not sustainable anymore, the trend is to going back to fundamentals, and to simpler circular routes. And who knows, maybe someday milkmen will knock at our doors again.

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ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/VISUAL GENERATION

The Brief / Carbon Management

Supporting steps towards sustainability Dahlia Haleem, partner at elementsix, a UAE-based carbon management firm, shares how companies can surmount challenges to start their sustainability journey and why the UAE is on the right path to net zero

What does a carbon management firm do?

We help businesses manage their carbon emissions; these are greenhouse gas emissions produced through the business’s operations. It’s their impact, or footprint, on the environment. We help companies quantify this impact, or carbon footprint, and then take the steps necessary to reduce it.

Every single activity that you undertake, from driving to the office, switching on your laptop, running your email server, or printing out your report, has an associated carbon cost to it, that is, it produces a certain amount of emissions. These emissions are in the form of greenhouse gases – and to keep things simple in the accounting process, we convert everything into CO₂ equivalent, or carbon dioxide equivalent.

By understanding which of your activities are the most carbon intensive, you can put initiatives in place to reduce them, and set targets to aim for.

How do you help companies on their sustainability journey?

We believe you need to know where you are in order 24

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to understand where you need to go – every good roadmap needs a starting point. A company’s environmental impact plays a huge role in their ability to be sustainable.

The first thing we do for almost every client is conduct a carbon audit, or carbon footprint, an evaluation of all a company’s activities and every emission source associated with them.

Using the latest climate science data and measuring tools, we’re able to quantify a company’s activities into an amount of CO₂ equivalent. This sets a baseline by establishing a business-as-usual scenario for the way that a company operates; that is the amount of emissions produced through everything they do from running their offices, to procuring supplies, to manufacturing and distributing products.

Once this starting point/baseline, is set, we’re able to do two things: 01. Establish where the biggest emission leaks are and even determine how much they are costing a company 02. Have a comparison point to measure future audits against and be able to evaluate the effectiveness of any emission reduction initiatives implemented.

To work out the most suitable emission reduction initiatives, we always take an economic approach. We need to establish what sort of activity, technology or initiative will reduce the emissions for that company the most, while costing the least – all while giving the best possible long-term returns in the form of energy (utility bills and emissions) savings.

Properly implemented sustainability initiatives will always save you money in the long run – so establishing when and what to implement is key to developing a proper emission reduction plan.

What are some of the key industries you work with?

USING THE LATEST CLIMATE SCIENCE DATA AND MEASURING TOOLS, WE’RE ABLE TO QUANTIFY A COMPANY’S ACTIVITIES INTO AN AMOUNT OF CO₂ EQUIVALENT

Being based in the UAE we’ve had experience and exposure to all of the major sectors, including real estate, oil and gas, hospitality and retail, manufacturing, transportation and waste.

You recently joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). What does it entail and why should companies join the initiative?

The UNGC is a strategic initiative that supports global companies that are committed to responsible business practices. It is a principle-based framework for businesses, stating 10 principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and gulfbusiness.com

INTERVIEW

anti-corruption. It is now the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative with 13,000 corporate participants over across countries.

The UAE Network currently has 178 participating companies from an array of different sectors, including banking, transportation and retail featuring brands such as Majid Al Futtaim, Emirates NBD and e&.

One of the founding principles behind elementsix is ethics and the way in which we treat the people we work with. We wanted to develop a consulting business model that allows us to provide the best expert advice and value to our clients while prioritising the work-life balance and wellness of our team. We found that these values aligned very naturally with the UNGC’s 10 principles. When we combined that with our efforts to reduce emissions, not only continually in our own business operations, but also through our services to the private and public sector in carbon management consulting, joining the pact seemed like an obvious step for us.

Dahlia Haleem

What are the key challenges that impede companies from adopting a sustainability strategy?

There is one dominant challenge that we find, no matter how big or how established a company is, to adopting any kind of sustainability strategy, and that is: where do I start?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of climate change information we are bombarded with these days, and people often just genuinely don’t know how to get going on their own sustainability journey. It’s why we adopt the following “measure, report, reduce, repeat” approach to any company that we work with.

How would you rate the UAE’s strategy and actions to be “net zero” by 2050?

The last decade has seen the UAE really taking massive strides to green its economy, and in all the right areas. Greening an electricity grid will always play a huge role in a country’s ability to massively cut down on its emissions. Carbon emission produced from generating electricity by burning fossil fuels accounts for over 40 per cent of the world’s total.

By cleaning its grid through the use of solar and other clean energy sources, the UAE has prioritised the biggest emission sources first, as they correctly should. The UAE’s Energy Plan for 2050 envisages the production of clean energy by 44 per cent by 2050, reducing the country’s carbon footprint from power generation by 70 per cent.

When the UAE announced its 2050 Net Zero Strategy in 2021, we predicted that legislation of some sort would soon follow. We always recommend to our clients to take action now, make the changes and reduce your emissions now, even while its voluntary – because at some point in the future, mandates are likely to come, and then you’ll have to take more aggressive, potentially more expensive action, to meet the demands.

MEASURE: Establish where you are in your sustainability maturity. Understand the impact you are having on the environment you operate in.

How are you doing compared to your peers? How are you doing compared to industry front-runners?

We often hear companies say: “We had no idea that X activity was producing so many emissions”, and that’s a great way to set your focus and your journey, in the right direction.

GREENING AN ELECTRICITY GRID WILL ALWAYS PLAY A HUGE ROLE IN A COUNTRY’S ABILITY TO MASSIVELY CUT DOWN ON ITS EMISSIONS

THE UAE’S ENERGY PLAN FOR 2050 ENVISAGES THE PRODUCTION OF CLEAN ENERGY BY 44 PER CENT BY 2050, REDUCING THE COUNTRY’S CARBON FOOTPRINT FROM POWER GENERATION BY 70 PER CENT gulfbusiness.com

The recent amendment of the UAE’s second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to a more aggressive emission reduction target, coupled with sector-specific reduction targets, is supporting this movement also. After all, if the UAE is to reach its commendable net-zero target, it’s going to need everyone to do their part to get there.

REPORT: Transparency is key. Put out a first report on your current impact and performance. Don’t shy away from the bad numbers. It’s a journey we are all on together. Say: “This is how we’re doing, and this is how we plan to do better.” It bolsters support and loyalty from stakeholders and has been proven to increase investor confidence and subsequent investment.

REDUCE: Once you’ve established how much impact each activity is having, you can implement the most economically viable reduction measures to reduce it.

REPEAT: Measure again after the new initiatives are in place. Did your impact improve? What else did you learn since your previous report?

With this approach, every company, big or small, private or public, can start making headway on their own sustainability journey.

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TO ENABLE GLOBAL CIRCULARITY, UAE-BASED REBOUND HAS LAUNCHED A GLOBAL B2B DIGITAL TRADING PLATFORM FOR RECYCLED PLASTIC WORDS: ZAINAB MANSOOR

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lastics and its relationship with the modern world cuts both ways. While it is an extremely useful material for society and serves several purposes, its consumption and subsequent disposal are endangering the environment and impacting the world in more ways than one.

Despite pledges on organisational and national levels, adverse climatic changes and grim forecasts have called for renewed commitment on multiple fronts. Green investments as well as greater cross-border cooperation are some of the examples to preclude a looming environmental crisis.

According to an OECD report, the annual production of plastics has doubled over the last two decades, from 234 million tonnes (Mt) in 2000 to 460 Mt in 2019. Meanwhile, plastic waste has more than doubled, from 156 Mt in 2000 to 353 Mt in 2019, of which only 9 per cent was recycled. As much as 19 per cent was incinerated, almost 50 per cent went to sanitary landfills and the residual 22 per cent was disposed of in uncontrolled dumpsites, burned or leaked into the environment. This suggests that the current plastics lifecycle is anything but sustainable.

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DUBAI LAUNCHED A CITYWIDE SUSTAINABILITY MOVEMENT IN FEBRUARY TO ENCOURAGE THE USE OF REFILLABLE BOTTLES THROUGH THE INSTALLATION OF DRINKING WATER STATIONS

ABU DHABI INTRODUCED A RANGE OF INSTALLATIONS AT HIGH FOOTFALL LOCATIONS TO COLLECT SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BOTTLES FOR RECYCLING

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FEATURES / PLASTIC FORUM

Maryam Al Mansoori, general manager, Rebound

RPX creates new economic opportunities and a point of market entry for most of the world’s communities which do not have domestic capacity to process or use plastic feedstock in their own manufacturing levels”

LOCAL INITIATIVES

globe as governments and businesses move to curb the The UAE has taken key initiatives to mitigate the usage environmental and societal impacts of plastic waste, of plastics. Dubai launched a citywide sustainability Al Mansoori added. “The circular ecosystem provides movement in February to encourage the use of refillable RPX’s proprietor Rebound the opportunity to facilitate bottles through the installation of drinking water stations. the recycling of five million tonnes of plastic by 2025.

By September, the initiative had seen a reduction in the “Since its launch, we have received an overwhelming usage of an equivalent of over 3.5 million 500ml singleresponse and have members registered on RPX from use plastic water bottles. The neighbouring emirate of the Middle East, North America, Latin America, India, Abu Dhabi also announced the introduction of a range Southeast Asia and Europe. Many other industry players of installations at high footfall locations to collect singlehave [also] expressed an interest in subscribing.” use plastic bottles for recycling. It also banned the use of However, during cross-border trades, how will the single-use plastic bags from June 1, while Dubai levied a exchange ensure transparency and product integrity?

Dhs0.25 tariff per bag a month later.

“RPX deploys inspectors and other specifications to However, addressing plastic products and their impact ensure the quality of products traded through its from a lifecycle perspective is equally imperative. To platform and the legitimacy of buyers and sellers. enable global circularity, Rebound, a subsidiary of Abu Through its certification protocol, Rebound positions Dhabi-based International Holding Company launched trust and quality at the core of its processes, starting from a global B2B digital trading platform for recycled plastics. onboarding members to completing the transaction. In “As the world’s plastics market is forecast to reach its next phases, the platform will further incorporate $46.6bn by 2025, Rebound Plastic Exchange (RPX) automated systems to verify product authenticity and serves as a global business-to-business marketplace to quality,” Al Mansoori adds. trade recycled plastics,” says Maryam Al Mansoori, genMOVING AHEAD eral manager, Rebound.

Plastics consumption is projected to increase in “RPX creates new economic opportunities and a point the future. Subsequently, plastic waste produced globally of market entry for most of the world’s communities is set to almost treble by 2060, with which do not have domestic around half ending up in landfill and capacity to process or use plasless than a fifth recycled, another tic feedstock in their own OECD report revealed. manufacturing levels. It incenTherefore, reducing plastics-related tivises new processors to trade DUBAI’S pollution requires a concerted effort to material, fostering growth in INITIATIVE TO curb production, enhance recycling and the recycling industry while TO USE REFILLABLE improve waste collection and managecreating substantial employBOTTLES HAD SEEN A REDUCTION IN THE ment. More so, setting recycling targets ment opportunities along the USAGE OF OVER and investing in related technologies, way,” Al Mansoori adds.

3.5 MILLION 500ML SINGLE-USE PLASTIC encouraging sustainable waste manWATER BOTTLES RISING DEMAND agement practices as well as reducing Demand for recycled plastics uncontrollable disposal will help underis growing rapidly around the pin the recycled plastics market. gulfbusiness.com

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A POSITIVE OUTLOOK EUGENE WILLEMSEN, CEO – AFRICA, MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA OF PEPSICO, TELLS GULF BUSINESS HOW THE COMPANY IS SHAPING ITS AMESA BUSINESS WITH SUSTAINABILITY AND REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE INITIATIVES, AND WHY COP27 CAN HELP DRIVE CHANGE

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s one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies, PepsiCo is no stranger to scale. One of the popular facts you are most likely to chance upon is that its products – across 22 brands – are enjoyed by consumers one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.

That said if you stop to think about it: every time you enjoy a bowl of your favourite cereal and a glass of refreshing juice, or a flavourful pack of potato crips and a cool, fizzy soda, there’s a complex supply chain, involving farmers, producers, transport companies and retailers, working around the clock to bring these products to you. However, such popularity brings with it the responsibility to minimise the impact on the environment.

A year since its launch, the PepsiCo Positive (pep+) strategy has been the turning point for the company and even more so for its operations in Africa, Middle East and South Asia (AMESA). Through pep+, the company is committed to using its scale to build a more resilient food 28

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system, be a consistent top market performer, attract the right talent and be a force for good by doing what’s right for people and the planet. For a company that sources 25 crops and ingredients from over seven million acres of farmland in 30 different counties while supporting 100,000 agriculture jobs worldwide, pep+ is and will continue to play a significant role in driving its future.

Eugene Willemsen, CEO – AMESA PepsiCo, who has been with the company for 27 years, says, “I have seen the organisation striving to become better, stronger and more sustainable for the business and the communities it operates in. From being a side project to becoming the future of business, sustainability has become the bottom line for business resilience. pep+ connects the future of our business with the future of our planet, from sourcing ingredients to making and selling our products more sustainably. We are ‘Winning with pep+’ because the end-to-end transformation strategy puts sustainability and human capital at the heart of creating shared value.” gulfbusiness.com

I have seen the organisation striving to become better, stronger and more sustainable for the business and the communities it operates in”

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SCOPE OF PEP+

EARLIER THIS YEAR, IN THE CAPACITY OF EXPO 2020 DUBAI’S OFFICIAL BEVERAGE AND SNACK PARTNER, PEPSICO HELPED TO REDUCE THE USE OF SINGLE-USE PLASTIC, DIVERTED AT LEAST 85 PER CENT OF ON-SITE WASTE AND AVOIDED MORE THAN 500,000 PLASTIC BOTTLES THROUGH AQUAFINA WATER STATIONS AS WELL AS BY REPLACING PLASTIC BOTTLES WITH AQUAFINA ALUMINIUM CANS AND GLASS BOTTLES”

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Willemsen has played a key role in driving the adoption of pep+ across the company’s supply chain in the AMESA region. “We are proud to have embedded our marquee sustainability strategy in every aspect of our business across the three pillars of Positive Agriculture, Positive Value Chain and Positive Choices.

“We remain an agricultural company at our core – a steady, sustainable supply of crops is central to our business. Under our Positive Agriculture pillar, we focus on spreading regenerative practices to restore the earth across land equal to our entire agricultural footprint and sustainably source key crops and ingredients. As per 2022’s estimates, PepsiCo in AMESA has engaged two million acres to implement regenerative agriculture practices and we aim to actively engage with around 250,000 people in livelihood improvement programmes across our potato agriculture supply chain by 2030.”

As part of the commitment to create a Positive Value Chain, the company is focused on being ‘Net Water Positive’ by 2030 and has targeted the achievement of net-zero emissions by 2040, one decade earlier than called for in the Paris Agreement.

“We have avoided the use of approximately five billion litres of water in 2021 compared to 2020 by changing the way farmers irrigate crops, focusing on at-risk locations and improving water-use efficiency in the AMESA region,” adds Willemsen.

Since 2021, PepsiCo AMESA estimates that it has improved water efficiency by 50 per cent in companyowned high-water risk plants across the region (excluding its newly acquired Pioneer Foods facilities in sub-Saharan Africa). PepsiCo AMESA further estimates that in 2021, it has replenished 2.5 billion litres of water through community partnership projects in six high-risk watershed areas through science-based interventions.

PepsiCo AMESA is gearing to expand renewable electricity sourcing to 100 per cent of its manufacturing electricity needs for company-owned sites by 2030 through regulatory unlocks and multi-stakeholder partnerships. “We drove our climate agenda within our manufacturing operations by achieving 12 per cent energy use reduction versus 2015 and expanding solar deployment across 17 sites,” says Willemsen.

Within the Positive Choices pillar, the company has been leveraging its connection with its consumers, suppliers, partners, and the scale and reach of its global brands – all to drive meaningful positive impact at scale.

“Being one of the global leaders in an industry driven by consumers, we have been evolving our portfolio of food and beverage products to make them better for the planet and its people,” he adds. gulfbusiness.com

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PARTNERSHIPS FOR FARMER EMPOWERMENT

Starting in 2018, the PepsiCo Foundation has invested over $5.7m in CARE’s She Feeds the World programme, supporting 538,000 female farmers in mainly Egypt and Uganda, with a major focus on economically empowering women essential in making the entire food system stronger. Asmaa Mohamed Abdullah, one of the female farmers who is part of the programme in Egypt’s Beni Suef says, “PepsiCo and CARE have supported me, step-by-step in every way possible, in my potato farming techniques, helping me achieve a stable source of income. ” Globally, PepsiCo’s five-year $20m partnership with USAID under the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative supports the empowerment of women in agriculture and helps build a more sustainable food system. In Egypt, this partnership is expected to accelerate the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices and achieve farmer self-sufficiency across Chipsy’s entire supply chain by 2025. Mohamed Farrag El Zoghby, an Egyptian farmer who is part of the programme, says, “I am proud to be cultivating potatoes that reach most of the Egyptian society through my partnership with Chipsy. Without being part of the sustainable farming programme, I would not have increased my production or the quality of my yield. I have acquired the knowledge of modern irrigation systems, protected my farm, decreased my cost and above all made sure to follow decent workers’ rights for a better farming community.”

The $33m Kgodiso Development Fund, established as one of PepsiCo sub-Saharan Africa’s public interest commitments, is mandated to look at creating ‘shared value’ solutions that ultimately help build a sustainable food system by increasing inclusivity in agriculture, creating local employment opportunities, and increasing local procurement and supplier diversity.

TACKLING FOOD SECURITY

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ 2020 report, states that nearly 690 million people gulfbusiness.com

– or 8.9 per cent of the global population – are hungry, up by nearly 60 million in five years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that agricultural growth globally has slowed due to climate change and Africa has been among the most affected regions, with a 34 per cent reduction in growth in agricultural production.

Willemsen says, “As a leading global food and beverage company, we have a critical role to play in realising a more equitable global food system to ensure the communities we serve are free from hunger and malnutrition.”

As a contributor to meeting pep+ commitments, PepsiCo’s ‘Food for Good’ programme is partnering with communities worldwide with the aspiration of making nutritious food accessible to 50 million people by 2030.

It has also participated in the Zero Hunger Private Sector Pledge, committing to invest $100m in positive agriculture initiatives by 2030 to help minimise waste and seek to create a more resilient food supply.

While PepsiCo Foundation has invested over $5.5m in AMESA’s food security programmes since 2018, the Foundation has invested over $1.8m in Africa alone, reaching out to 2.6 million people with nutritious food.

Another initiative, the Pioneer Foods School Breakfast Programme serves breakfast to over 34,000 children in 35 schools every day of the calendar, across seven provinces in South Africa since 2015. The $250,000 Nigeria Food Clique fund provides 600,000 nutritious meals to Nigeria’s hardest-hit communities. Recently, the company, in partnership with PepsiCo Foundation, has contributed five million meals to support relief efforts in Pakistan following the devastating floods that have impacted the country.

PEPSICO SOURCES

25 CROPS

AND INGREDIENTS FROM OVER 7 MILLION ACRES OF FARMLAND IN

30 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

WHILE SUPPORTING

100,000 AGRICULTURE JOBS

WORLDWIDE

TAKING ON WATER STEWARDSHIP

According to World Resources Institute, many African countries have extremely high-water risk, including vulnerability to droughts and floods, seasonal variability, and competition for available water. Already, one in every three people across Africa faces water scarcity. Nearly 400 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are denied even a basic drinking water supply.

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PEPSICO SUPPORTED THE COLLECTION AND RECYCLING OF

107,000 TONNES

OF PLASTIC BOTTLES AND

19,000 TONNES

OF MULTI-LAYERED PLASTIC FILMS ACROSS 7 COUNTRIES AS PER 2021 ESTIMATES

Willemsen says, “We have adopted an approach to watershed management in the region that includes initiatives designed to improve water-use efficiency across our value chain: on farms and in manufacturing facilities; replenishing water and improving the health of the local watersheds that are most at risk and where we operate; and increasing safe water access for communities that face water insecurity, including scarcity and unsafe water sources.”

PepsiCo is helping farmers in Africa install water-saving irrigation technology and enhance irrigation practices in efforts to improve agricultural water-use efficiency by 15 -30 per cent by 2025. As a result, potato irrigation water use in high-risk areas of Egypt and South Africa improved, with the company avoiding the use of approximately 0.7 billion litres of water in 2021. Additionally, PepsiCo AMESA is working towards achieving water-use efficiency in operations by implementing best-in-class water-use standards across facilities. While PepsiCo in Egypt and South Africa have replenished more than 1.5 billion litres of water in high-risk watersheds in 2021 - equal to 38 per cent of water consumed in our company-owned manufacturing facilities in high-risk watersheds, PepsiCo in Jordan has already achieved net-water positive status.

In 2021, the PepsiCo Foundation continued to expand the reach of its safe water access programme, providing safe water access to more than 68 million people since 2006, with a goal to reach 100 million by 2030. To continue to advance this goal, the Foundation’s investments with WaterAid and World Wildlife Fund are focused on subSaharan Africa and will help improve water infrastructure, build new water supply systems and equitable sanitation facilities, and promote hygiene education.

CUTTING PLASTIC WASTE

SUPPORTING SUSTAINABLE BUSINESSES

PepsiCo believes in leveraging the power of hackathons for nurturing young entrepreneurs to accelerate sustainable technologies through grants, mentorship and opportunities. With the MENA region’s startup ecosystem on an upward trajectory, PepsiCo welcomes the support from local governments to launch exciting editions of hackathons that push the envelope on circularity and positive change for the people and the planet. Earlier this year, PepsiCo Egypt partnered with the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Rise-Up to hold a one-of-a-kind hackathon

Photos courtesy: PepsiCo

The pep+ ambition aims to design 100 per cent of its packaging to be recyclable, compostable, biodegradable or reusable by 2025 and to cut virgin plastic from nonrenewable sources per serving across its global beverages and convenient foods portfolio by 50 per cent by 2030.

Marking one year of pep+, PepsiCo launches recycled plastic (rPET) bottles across some beverage brands in

10 AMESA countries by 2023. With the rPET bottles introduced in South Africa and Bangladesh earlier this year, PepsiCo is the first large-scale food and beverage company to launch locally produced 100 per cent rPET bottles in GCC’s Qatar and Kuwait by end of 2022.

PepsiCo aims to continue its progress towards expanding plastic collection programmes to 14 AMESA markets by developing recycling infrastructure through advocacy and partnerships by 2023. As per 2021 estimates, PepsiCo supported the collection and recycling of 107,000 tonnes of plastic bottles and 19,000 tonnes of multi-layered Plastic (MLP) films across seven AMESA countries. This was delivered through mass collection partnerships, deploying reverse vending machines, launching incentive programmes, and partnering with recyclers for ensuring the beneficial use of collected plastics.

Earlier this year, in the capacity of Expo 2020 Dubai’s Official Beverage and Snack Partner, PepsiCo helped to reduce the use of single-use plastic, diverted at least 85 per cent of on-site waste and avoided more than 500,000 plastic bottles through Aquafina water stations as well as by replacing plastic bottles with Aquafina aluminium cans and glass bottles.

In Egypt, as policymakers lay out an ambitious COP27 roadmap, PepsiCo launched the biggest PET collection programme in Egypt ‘Recycle for Tomorrow’ in 2021 and is now introducing locally manufactured recycled plastic bottles as part of its efforts to build a circular economy by 2030.

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for aspiring startups to work towards Egypt’s 2030 vision for zero hunger, gender equality and social development.

In 2021, PepsiCo partnered with the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and the Foodtech Valley, to launch the MENA edition of its global Greenhouse Accelerator programme – a six-month initiative seeking to enhance innovation and sustainability through collaboration with purpose-driven brands from the MENA startup ecosystem that shared PepsiCo’s vision for a more sustainable food system.

Willemsen says: “The theme for the ‘2022 PepsiCo Greenhouse Accelerator: MENA Sustainability Edition’ was sustainable packaging and circular economy solutions.

From a pool of more than 70 applications, we selected to support 10 companies from the MENA region. We recently announced UAE-based startup Nadeera as the winner of the programme. It will receive a grant of $100,000 and other benefits to scale its sustainable packaging solution and grow its business. gulfbusiness.com

Photos courtesy: PepsiCo

In Egypt, as policymakers lay out an ambitious COP27 roadmap, PepsiCo launched the biggest PET collection programme in Egypt ‘Recycle for Tomorrow’ in 2021 and is now introducing locally manufactured recycled plastic bottles as part of its efforts to build a circular economy by 2030”

Climate action failure is the most critical threat to the world and our planet in the next five to ten years

LEADING BY EXAMPLE EUGENE WILLEMSEN SHARES THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UPCOMING 27TH CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES OF THE UNFCCC (COP27), ESPECIALLY FOR AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2022 ranks climate action failure as the most critical threat to the world and our planet in the next five to ten years. Each 1°C increase caused by global warming is projected to result in a 20 per cent reduction in renewable water resources, affecting an additional 7 per cent of the population – hindering economic growth, spurring migration, and even sparking conflict. Even though African countries contribute only 4 per cent of global emissions, they are suffering the most severe impacts of climate change. Ultimately, it becomes imperative to prioritise Africa’s case in the global climate change agenda as the continent is most vulnerable to the climate change crisis further driven by the pandemic.

Businesses such as ours play a vital role in advancing the overall environmental agenda. We recognise that to be resilient and successful over the long term we need to invest in building a sustainable future now. Multi-stakeholder partnerships are key, and to take these to scale we need a range of policy enablers that will help decarbonise the private sector to achieve a 1.5°C world.

These include incentives for climate-smart agriculture, like soil sequestration credits, tax credits, loans and guarantees.

The 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) reaffirmed the need to take urgent action to combat climate change and now with the MENA region hosting the next two UN Climate Change Conferences – Egypt for COP27 and the UAE for COP28, we see an opportunity to increase support for regenerative agriculture, which can address both adaptation and mitigation, leading to the improvement of livelihoods and a more resilient food supply and this is a key focus area for PepsiCo both now and in the coming years.

Additionally, as the case for green transition becomes stronger, there is an urgent need to prioritise the energy crisis by unlocking purchase power agreements (PPAs) and forging collaborations for increased investments in green innovation.

The meaningful change we need to take to address and mitigate the effects of climate change will be led by innovations that provide solutions. By bringing together global thought leaders, we will be able to hone this innovation into practice.

As we prepare to head to Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh (to attend COP27), I encourage us all to consider how we can put these topics squarely on the agenda. We are eager to lead by example and provide support for an accelerated progress towards creating new solutions to overcome climate change.

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ON THE ROAD TO A GREEN ECONOMY GLOBAL AND REGIONAL MINISTERS, OFFICIALS AND EXPERTS GATHERED AT THE WORLD GREEN ECONOMY SUMMIT IN SEPTEMBER TO DISCUSS SUSTAINABILITY, CLIMATE CHANGE, GREEN ECONOMY, AND RENEWABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY WORDS: ZUBINA AHMED

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he impact of climate change is being felt across all sectors of society.

The Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2022 indicates that climate change will impact water quality and availability. Globally, 800 million to three billion people are projected to experience chronic water scarcity due to droughts at 2°C warming.

In the current situation, we all need a positive change in order to prepare the next generation of climate action leaders.

A transition to a global green economy is based on collective will, partnerships and swift action. Moreover, advancing the green economy requires international cooperation, guaranteeing a new approach, a stable partnership and common goals that can enhance this cooperation. With an aim to make green economy a reality, the UAE recently held the 8th World Green Economy summit 34

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on September 28. The two-day event was organised by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), the World Green Economy Organization (WGEO), and the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

The theme of the summit ‘Climate Action Leadership through Collaboration: The Roadmap to Net Zero,’ reflected the need for international cooperation to combat climate challenges, expand dialogue on sustainability, promote efforts for renewable energy, develop solutions to reach net zero and aim for a sustainable future.

Regional and global ministers, officials and experts gathered at the summit to explore opportunities for collaboration and exchange.

Highlights of the event The summit focused on the four key pillars of the green economy: energy,

finance, food security, and youth. The ‘Energy’ pillar looked into solutions to enhance energy efficiency and decarbonise the energy systems. The ‘Finance’ pillar focused on attracting and encouraging green investments. The ‘Food Security’ pillar examined approaches and methodologies to build resilience and sustainability into value chains, while the ‘Youth’ pillar highlighted the need to support and empower the youth who are the driving force of sustainable development.

During his keynote speech, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, vice chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, MD and CEO of DEWA and chairman of WGEO, emphasised how the UAE has been leading global efforts in tackling climate change and pioneered efforts to address global challenges and promote quality investments in the green economy.

He stated, “Selecting the UAE to host the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) underlines the world’s recognition of the UAE’s efforts and its effective role in combating climate change. Last year, the UAE announced the UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative, with investments of more than Dhs600bn in clean and renewable energy until 2050. This makes it the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to launch such an initiative.”

Al Tayer explained that Dubai has succeeded in reducing carbon emissions by 21 per cent in 2021; exceeding the target set in the Dubai Carbon Abatement Strategy 2021, which aimed to reduce carbon emissions by 16 per cent by 2021.

He added: “Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 to drive sustainability, innovation, and transformation towards a sustainable green economy by 2050. The UAE hosts specialised international institutions in the green economy, such as the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in gulfbusiness.com

FEATURES / CLIMATE CHANGE

For us in the UAE, pioneering the adoption of green economy principles and practices within sustainable development, resilience to climate change, and poverty eradication are paramount”

Abu Dhabi and the World Green Economy Organization in Dubai. The country has also led projects such as Masdar City in Abu Dhabi and the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai that aim for a net-zero future.”

Panel discussions The first day of the summit featured a panel session – ‘Implementing the Paris Agreement: Building a MENA climate action legacy’ where the panelists discussed topics related to climate action in the Middle East and North Africa, and the significance of hosting COP27 in Egypt later this year and COP28 in the UAE next year.

Another great panel discussion called ‘Hydrogen: Fuel of the Future’ showcased regional expertise and research and development projects. In another panel, ‘Investment in climate adaption, investment in growth and resilience’, speakers discussed the need for balanced economic growth in the short term, while progressing efforts in achieving climate goals to attain sustainable long-term growth. Another session discussed netzero implementation case studies, which highlighted the crucial role of the private sector in accelerating the energy transition agenda.

The final panel discussion: ‘Understanding the role of green bonds in accelerating sustainability’ highlighted the significance of green bonds in tackling the adverse effects of climate change.

Global Alliance on Green Economy launched Al Tayer also launched the Global Alliance on Green Economy at the summit, with the aim to build a coalition of countries, prioritising a green economy in the context of climate action and sustainable gulfbusiness.com

development, to enhance the capacity of developing countries, provide support for their green economy transition projects and exchange knowledge on implementation.

“For us in the UAE, pioneering the adoption of green economy principles and practices within sustainable development, resilience to climate change, and poverty eradication are paramount.

Linking the Paris Agreement goals and its corresponding articles, as well as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with climate planning and climate finance, are key synergies in this transition. We truly believe this harmonisation to be essential in the lead-up to COP27 and COP28 in Egypt and the UAE, respectively,” said Al Tayer.

“This Global Alliance is not the outcome but the first milestone toward important work ahead. We will now be engaging with countries to identify their needs, priorities, and challenges in the context of the green economy, during the next three months. This multi-stakeholder exercise and inclusive consultation with countries will lead to the launch of a suite of flagship projects by WGEO to support the green economy agenda in the countries joining the Alliance. The work under the Alliance will address pressing issues such as food security and carbon markets and how cooperation can be increased at the South-South and North-South levels,” added Al Tayer.

Youth and climate change The World Green Economy Summit also hosted the Regional Conference of Youth (RCOY) MENA. More than 150 young people from across the region took part in the conference. The forum discussed a range of topics related to the skill development of young people in global climate policies, empowering them, and making their voices heard in climate action

policies. It also provided a platform for capacity building and policy training, to prepare young people for their participation in the UN Climate Change Conference of Youth (COY) and Conference of Parties (COP). The regional conference is designed to develop a network among MENA youth to prepare and train the Arab and North African youth to host and lead the COP27/COY, which will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, this month.

The World Green Economy Organization also facilitated the collaboration between policymakers, young people and other stakeholders to accelerate towards a sustainable global green economy.

Additionally, the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, DEWA’s Youth Council, in cooperation with the Federal Youth Authority, organised a Youth Circle titled ‘Youth Action Towards Achieving Net Zero’. The session discussed several topics related to the role of the youth in climate action; the future skill-sets the youth need to pursue to be able to tackle the climate change issues; and the role of the government and private sectors and NGOs in supporting youth action towards achieving the net-zero targets.

The 8th Dubai Declaration The summit concluded with Al Tayer, announcing the 8th Dubai Declaration, which emphasised the importance of comprehensive partnerships and the need to mobilise resources to support low-emission development initiatives and the transition to a green economy.

It called for promoting the efforts and contribution of the public and private sectors in exploring ways to enhance energy efficiency and reduce emissions in the energy systems, mobilise investments in support of green growth and sustainability, in addition to empowering the youth to make positive and effective change.

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FEATURES / XXXX

WHY CLEAN ENERGY’S CORPORATE PATRONS ARE BUYING LESS THIS YEAR

MAJOR CORPORATIONS HAVE MADE A ONE-WAY BET ON RENEWABLE POWER: MORE OF IT, EVERY YEAR

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November 2022

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FEATURES / CLEAN ENERGY

NOT QUITE STACKING UP GLOBAL CORPORATE RENEWABLE POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENT VOLUME BY REGION 40 gigawatts

Americas Europe • Middle East • Africa

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Asia Pacific

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Credits: Bloomberg NEF

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n 2012, companies procured terms. There are a some bright spots: power from 300 megawatts Spain’s and Denmark’s corporate clean of wind and solar; last year, energy markets are both on record pace. they bought more than 30 But the European market as a whole gigawatts’ worth, a 100-fold increase. is constrained.

There are now more than 125 gigawatts But the market in the Americas is not of clean power under contract to large all that top-line figures would suggest. companies around the world.

Amazon.com played an enormous role But look closely at data from the first in overall corporate clean power purchashalf of 2022, and the one-way bet appears ing, signing 25 contracts for 5 gigawatts to be off. Corporate procurement of clean of capacity on its own. Without that, volenergy stopped short of 15 gigawatts, less umes in the region would be well below than half of last year’s total. That means last year’s trend as well. at the current pace 2022 could be the first Between 2020 and 2021, Amazon’s down year in more than a decade for new electricity consumption rose by nearly 29 corporate procurement of clean energy. per cent. The company has purchased 19 The relative decline is not evenly disgigawatts’ worth of clean power to date. tributed. In the Americas, contracts are running only a few hundred megawatts behind 2021’s annualised rate.

CHINA’S GIANTS, EUROPE’S LEADERS AND AMAZON In the Asia Pacific region, though, Renewable power generation portfolios by corporate owner, gigawatts contracts are running more than 20 per cent ahead of pace. The bulk of State Power Investment Corp (China) 55.1 the decline comes from paltry conChina Energy Investment Corp 51.5 tract volumes in Europe, the Middle Next Era Energy 29.8 East and Africa. (Note that almost China General Nuclear Power Corp 28.7 all contracts in this big region are in China Huaneng Group 25.4 Europe proper.)

China Datang Group 24.0 A number of factors are impairing Iberdrola 22.5 the corporate clean energy market Enel 21.6 in Europe in particular. There’s China Huadian Corp 19.0 the geopolitical uncertainty of the Amazon 19.0 Russia-Ukraine crisis, as well as China Three Gorges Corp 18.3 its impact on power prices (which EDF 14.6 have spiked to astronomical levels Berkshire Hathaway 14.5 in France and Germany). Spiking China Resources National Corp 14.2 prices and economy-wide inflation have made it very difficult to negoHuaneng Power International (China) 13.0 tiate long-term power purchase

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Companies that have signed the RE100 pledge for 100 per cent clean energy will require another 275 terawatt-hours worth of clean power in 2030, as much as Spain generates today” That’s double the next largest corporate purchaser (Microsoft with 9 gigawatts).

The clean power that Amazon now commands would make it the world’s 10th largest wind and solar portfolio.

The comparison isn’t exactly apples to apples because utilities own their assets, while Amazon just signs contracts for power. But it’s instructive.

While Chinese companies dominate global clean power portfolios, Amazon uses more clean power than Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns, and more than French power giant Electricite de France (EDF). Amazon’s clean power is only slightly smaller than Europe’s two other major utility owners of renewable assets, Iberdrola of Spain and Enel of Italy. Amazon’s appetite is a sign of what’s ahead. Corporate demand for clean energy is growing, regardless of near-term market disruptions. Companies that have signed the RE100 pledge for 100 per cent clean energy will require another 275 terawatt-hours worth of clean power in 2030, as much as Spain generates today.

All-time high California set an all-time power demand record in September thanks to record heat in many parts of the state. The last record dates to 2006, and since then the state has added multiple gigawatts of rooftop solar. Something else wholly new since the last demand record: batteries.

The following chart shows five years’ worth of Labor Day grid-scale battery energy. It’s not hard to see the growth, and also not hard to imagine how much more strained California’s electricity grid would be without distributed solar generation and very large batteries discharging when the system needs them most.

Bloomberg November 2022

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Looking beyond luxury Founder and CEO of Driven Properties, Abdullah Alajaji and his team tell us about Dubai’s booming luxury property market and the growing focus on sustainability in the real estate sector

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n a rapidly urbanising world, the real estate sector often lies at the centre of growth and activity. Dubai’s real estate sector is also reflecting this trend.

According to a report by Bloomberg, over the last year, real estate prices have risen by 89 per cent. In fact, as per the Dubai Land Department, more than 43,000 property transactions, exceeding $31.3bn were recorded in the first half of 2022 alone. Dubai also just witnessed the sale of the most expensive mansion on Palm Jumeirah for $82m alongside a host of other high-profile sales.

Lina Allaoa, associate partner at Driven Properties, says: “This year has definitely been a year of records, some of them set by us and some by others in the industry.

The luxury real estate niche in Dubai is outstanding, and it seems the year ahead of us will continue to boom. We are excited

to have a few extraordinary projects that will be launched in the months to come.”

Driven Properties, which offers turnkey solutions to its client’s real estate needs, be it property management, short-term rentals, interior design and mortgage consultancy, has also reaped the benefits of the uptick in the market.

Abdullah Alajaji, founder and CEO of the Dubai-based real estate company, says he saw a lack of structure and dearth of institutional know-how in the market when he started Driven Properties in 2012.

He adds, “My background as an investment banker gave me an insight into how investors make decisions, and what information they require to take calculated risks. This approach set the foundation for how we operate as an organisation.

Today, we are the largest real estate agency in Dubai, and an exclusive member

of Forbes Global Properties; a consortium of 100 best brokerages in the world.”

Specialising in luxury real estate, Driven Properties has a well-rounded portfolio of properties across Dubai. Elaborating more about their company and its portfolio Kianoush Darban, associate partner, Driven Properties explains, “Last year, we sold the most expensive penthouse in Dubai at the time for a whopping Dhs85m.

Jumeirah Bay Island has and is one of our strongest ares for residential sales. We enabled the sale of the most expensive

BRAND VIEW Kianoush Darban, Abdullah Alajaji and Lina Allaoa

Buoyed by years of infrastructure and population growth, the market in Dubai has outperformed most global property markets, beating Paris, London, New York and Hong Kong. When comparing the quality of life in Dubai with any other leading global city, it’s astonishingly affordable” residential plot, followed by the highest square foot price ever recorded in the UAE (Dhs12,624). Recently, we sold the most expensive townhouse ever sold in Dubai, which is also in the same area.”

Moving towards sustainability Sustainability is a key trend these days and there is a clear demand for it among customers. Alajaji confirms, “Our recent project on Jumeirah Bay Island, Sea Mirror was fully sold out before the official launch and is a perfect example of combining modern architecture with nature in a sustainable way. The market lacked projects such as this, and as a means of addressing the shortfall, we launched Lamar Development, a

development company that focuses on ultra-high-end projects that are designed in a sustainable way.”

With UAE moving towards a greener and sustainable future, it has become a responsibility for all property developers to put sustainable solutions at the heart of the construction process. The Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan maps out a comprehensive plan for sustainable urban development. With the UAE’s 2050 net-zero commitment, the nation is well poised to be a regional leader in sustainable communities over the next 50 years. “For a country that has set so many records before, I have no doubt this will also be executed successfully. Many key sectors other than real estate will also be impacted, but I am confident we will all successfully implement initiatives

designed by the government and achieve the goal by 2050,” says Alajaji.

What customers want The luxury property market in Dubai has always been about location. But what more are customers looking for in the city? Lina Allaoa explains, “Comfort, design, space and premium amenities are important factors as well. We have had a lot of success with Bulgari Resort and Residences, and Jumeirah Bay Island as a whole, which exemplify these factors.”

Kianoush Darban adds, “Certain projects on the Palm have been very successful, but if we are talking about the most popular area, nothing compares with Jumeirah Bay Island. Clients adore it mainly because of the privacy and exclusivity of the location, as well as direct beach access and unparalleled amenities.”

Being a cultural melting pot and cosmopolitan capital, it is easy to see why Dubai is gaining popularity to live, work and invest in. Buoyed by years of infrastructure and population growth, the market in Dubai has outperformed most global property markets, beating Paris, London, New York and Hong Kong. “When comparing the quality of life in Dubai with any other leading global city, it’s astonishingly affordable. Dubai has consistently seen some of the fastest population growth outside of China in the last decade because of its high safety index, its status as a tax haven, and its central geographic location,” concludes Alajaji.

FEATURES / CLIMATE CHANGE

FOUR BILLION TWEETS WERE ANALYSED BETWEEN 2014 AND 2020 FROM USERS BASED IN THE US TO TEST THIS THEORY

A HOT DEBATE IS CLIMATE CHANGE MAKING PEOPLE ANGRIER ONLINE? BLOOMBERG’S LAURA MILLAN LOMBRANA INVESTIGATES

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limate change is making us angrier online. A lot angrier.

Hateful comments spike on social media when temperatures rise above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research have found.

“It’s an indicator of how well people can adapt to high temperatures,” says Annika Stechemesser, lead author of the study published in The Lancet Planetary Health in September. “If temperatures go too hot or too cold, we found that there’s an increase in online hate speech, no matter the socioeconomic differences, religion or political beliefs.”

Mental impact

Global warming of about 1.1°C on average since pre-industrial times has unleashed all sorts of extreme weather events across the world. This summer, drought and a string of heat waves hit Europe, China and the US. For humans, heat is associated with psychiatric hospitalisations, increased rates of suicide and more domestic violence, according to research.

And aggressive behaviour online has been linked to violence offline too.

Incensed posts have led to more violence toward minorities, including mass shootings, lynchings and ethnic cleansing, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based think tank. Stechemesser and other researchers analysed a sample of four billion 40

November 2022

tweets between 2014 and 2020 from users based in the US. They used artificial intelligence to identify about 75 million hate messages in English, using the United Nations’ definition of online hate, which includes racial discrimination, misogyny and homophobia.

They then analysed how the number of tweets changed when local temperatures increased or decreased.

Direct ratio

The researchers found that online hate speech increased as daily maximum temperatures rose above 21°C (70F) – a “feel good” point. Hate messages went up as much as 22 per cent on hot days, compared with the average online hate during times of mild weather. Across all climate zones and socioeconomic groups in the US, online tensions intensified even more significantly when temperatures exceeded 30⁰C. Researchers observed that online hate speech increased by as much as 24 per cent – from the feel good point – when temperatures reached 42⁰C to 45⁰C in US

regions with hot and dry climates such as parts of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. Last year, a study by the same researchers focusing on Europe reached similar conclusions.

“When discussing climate change, it’s a point to remember that we feel the effects everywhere, not just in places with big disasters,” Stechemesser says.

“There are places where the social consequences of heat have been not discussed very thoroughly, especially around how we can live together as a society and deal with our wellbeing in the future.”

Researchers analysed the tweets as a whole and did not look into specific incidents. That means there’s no way to know if the weather made online tensions worse following the incident involving George Floyd in May 2020, for instance, or in the lead up to the attack on the US Capitol in January 2021. Still, some conclusions can be reached ahead of the US mid-terms on November 8.

The direct relation between heat and online hate has also been documented in China, where researchers analysed over 400 million tweets from a sample of 43 million users posting on the country’s largest microblog platform – Sina Weibo. They concluded that days with temperatures above 35°C, rain, higher wind speed, overcast skies and air pollution all make people grumpier online.

“Of course people can to an extent decide consciously whether they want to be nice or not, but we still find you’ll have more hateful behaviour if you find yourself in a certain temperature range,” Stechemesser says. “The first thing to do is limit global warming, that’s the most obvious approach to solving this.”

ONLINE HATE SPEECH INCREASED AS DAILY MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES ROSE ABOVE 21°C (70F), CONSIDERED A “FEEL GOOD” POINT

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Lifestyle

22

Porsche goes all electric Porsche is all about performance, and the Taycan GTS version doesn’t disappoint.

A delight to cruise around in, this electric vehicle has the heart and spirit of a mighty sports car while being kinder to the environment p.42

“Research has been showing for years that consumers – especially the empowered younger generation – are looking for brands that offer more than just a product; they are rewarding brands that stand for something with their spending power. We have seen this firsthand with the loyal “KIND” community we are building” Lynda Chapman and Pia Dwyer, co-founders of The KIND Collective gulfbusiness.com

Panerai Submersible eLAB-ID The Submersible eLAB-ID is the first watch to use 95 per cent recycled SuperLuminova on its dial and hands and 100 per cent recycled silicon for its movement escapement.

Both are obtained through dedicated, small-scale recycling processes that reuse raw material waste

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Lifestyle / Auto

“How do you describe the Taycan GTS interiors? It would have to be “spaceship-like”.

Screens take precedence inside the cabin, with the driver receiving the best unit of the lot – a 16.8-inch curved digital dashboard with crisp graphics”

An electric performer WE TAKE THE PORSCHE TAYCAN, THE BRAND’S FIRST ALL- ELECTRIC CAR, FOR A TEST DRIVE

BY SHIVAUM PUNJABI

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Lifestyle / Auto

THE TAYCAN GTS CAN ACCELERATE FROM

0-100KPH IN 3.7SECS

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n 2015, Porsche showcased its Mission E Concept electric sports car to the world. Fast forward to current times, we have the Porsche Taycan EV – the luxury automaker’s first EV, featuring a design that is heavily influenced by the concept car. The Porsche Taycan has firmly established itself in the electric vehicle (EV) category, as the “sporty” EV to buy. It’s a car designed with sustainability in mind.

DESIGN Being a sport derivative, the Taycan GTS retains the basic silhouette of the lowslung Taycan. The slim headlights are flanked by teardrop-like vertical slits, which channel air around the front. The roof slopes in a gentle arch – like the Porsche 911 – towards the flat deck-style rear, which gets encompassed by a widthspanning light bar. Being an EV, it has no exhausts, but a slated bumper instead.

The model reviewed was painted carmine red, a unique shade available only for the gulfbusiness.com

IF THE INDICATOR DROPS BELOW 20%, A 30-MINUTE FASTCHARGING STOP AT THE PORSCHE SHOWROOM IS ENOUGH TO JUICE THE BATTERIES

UP TO 75 %

GTS trim level. Another noteworthy feature: the 21-inch ‘Aeroblade Exclusive Design’ wheels – these are aerodynamically optimised forged alloy machined, and the aeroblades in carbon ensure a lower overall weight.

INTERIORS How do you describe the Taycan GTS interiors? It would have to be “spaceshiplike”. Screens take precedence inside the cabin, with the driver receiving the best unit of the lot – a 16.8-inch curved digital dashboard with crisp graphics. The centre console gets two additional sets of screens – a multimedia unit on top housing all car and infotainment configurations with Apple CarPlay equipped as standard. The lower screen can alter the ventilated seats’ settings and climate control.

Porsche “tricks” you into believing that the centre console has no buttons, but there are a few buttons that look like touch points – they are actually touch buttons with haptic feedback, a form of interactive

communication between humans and computers that includes sensory feedback to enhance the user experience.

The cabin has a clean, elegant and ergonomic design so getting used to it is quick and easy. Customers can customise the upholstery with various options, from leather to sustainable materials. The model reviewed came with a fixed panoramic sunroof, lending an airy feeling to the cabin. It also had a passenger side dashboard display, which extended the digital dominance inside the cabin, an optional extra.

DRIVING DYNAMICS The GTS sits right between the base rearwheel-drive Taycan and the top-spec Turbo S trim levels. And that means it produces just over 502 HP and 590 HP with over-boost mode, which is activated at launch control. This allows the Taycan GTS to accelerate from 0-100kph in 3.7 seconds, rendering it half a second slower than the Turbo and about a second slower than the all-powerful 700hp Turbo S. The GTS comes with an all-wheel-drive system, with two motors, one in the front and one at the back.

In the real world, the GTS still feels quite fast. Floor the throttle, and the car shoves you into your seat and keeps you there.

Even though this is an EV, the experience somehow feels analogue. You are highly in tune with what the car is doing. You sit down and low and still have excellent visibility. The chassis setup is sublime. You can sense the bends and take them with confidence and precision. The car provides you November 2022

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Lifestyle / Auto

with ample grip and feedback. The Taycan is agile and surefooted, making switching directions and tackling the bends a matter of flicking the steering wheel.

The car comes equipped with air suspension, adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist, making it comfortable for long-distance cruising and highway driving. On the way to your destination, if you choose to make a detour at your local race track, the Taycan will not disappoint over there either. No other vehicle that weighs this much can drive and handle the way the Taycan can. It is a proper sports car in “EV” clothing.

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EV CHARGING The Taycan GTS did not show drastic drops upon pushing it under heavy acceleration, even though I kept an eye on the range indicator at all times. At just over 90 per cent charge, the car displayed 380km of range. If the indicator goes below 20 per cent, a 30-minute fast-charging stop at the Porsche showroom juiced the batteries up to over 75 per cent.

Note that the charging efficiency depends on multiple conditions such as weather, state of the charger, amount of current available and the charger and type of charger.

The real-life range of the Taycan GTS or any

other EV depends on how it is driven. The Taycan gave us a range of 350km for city and highway driving conditions.

VERDICT The Taycan is impressive. It truly encompasses the Porsche spirit into a modern platform. For daily city driving, it provides you with ample range. If you decide to go on a long-distance ride, ensure your charging stations are mapped; do not leave anything to chance.

The Porsche Taycan GTS and other versions are now available to order. The starting price of the GTS is Dhs520,000. gulfbusiness.com

Lifestyle / Tourism

car-free policy as do mountain resorts such as Melchsee-Frutt, Blatten-Belalp, Mürren, Wengen, Saas-Fee, Bettermalp, Rigi, Stoos, Braunwald and Riederalp.

Switzerland is also one of the world’s leading countries when it comes to recycling and waste management, with almost 90 per cent of PET bottles being put to new use.

These factors underpin Switzerland’s sustainability strategy: Swisstainable, which has had a significant impact on its approach to tourism.

Switzerland: Focused on sustainable tourism WE LOOK AT HOW THE COUNTRY’S SWISSTAINABLE STRATEGY IS SHAPING ITS TOURISM SECTOR a net zero future and a renewed vigour for travel.

With sustainability driving the country’s agenda for decades, Switzerland has been a staunch supporter of climate action.

The country is on track to meet the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and has announced it will reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2050.

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World Tourism and Travel Council report, published in September 2020, forecasted that sustainability would be among the key trends that would play a decisive role in destination choices in the future. Two years later and post Covid-19, this trend has only grown in significance, as the world continues to align itself with

gulfbusiness.com

A WAY OF LIFE Sustainability has been shaping the country for decades, be it through the predominant use of hydroelectric power — more than 70 per cent of the country’s power comes from renewable energy sources. The topography, numerous rivers and lakes, and glaciers have also supported this strategy.

The Swiss also have high levels of ecoconsciousness, most likely because of the country’s beautiful mountains, verdant landscapes, and natural beauty.

In fact, to maintain pollution and carbon emissions, cities such as Zermatt have a

BEING SWISSTAINABLE Swisstainable is all about encouraging visitors to get up close to nature and experience the local culture and surroundings in an authentic way while delving deeper into the culture and nature of Switzerland as they enjoy local products.

To facilitate, encourage and promote this concept, the sustainability programme is open to all Swiss tourism operators — whether the business already has sustainability certification or is just setting out on this path. Service providers can reach different levels — there are three — of the programme depending on their involvement and initiatives, waste management, housekeeping measures, and the use of local products and resources, within the hotel or establishment.

More than 1,200 tourism service providers have already joined the Swisstainable programme, with many more expected to enroll within the next months.

The Swiss hospitality sector is also contributing to encouraging sustainability, with hotels and resorts actively joining the Swisstainable programme.

These steps are key to aligning the travel and tourism, and hospitality industries with Switzerland’s overall goal to adopt sustainability across all sectors.

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Lifestyle / Jewellery

Sustainable sparklers FIRST DEVELOPED IN THE 1950S, LAB-GROWN DIAMONDS ARE NOW WIDELY USED IN JEWELLERY PIECES. ONE SUCH BRAND CHAMPIONING THE PROCESS IS DUBAI-BASED FYNE JEWELLERY. FOUNDER AYA AHMAD TELLS US HOW LAB-GROWN DIAMONDS ARE CREATED AND WHY THEY ARE THE FUTURE OF THE GEMSTONE

BY OLIVIA MORRIS

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November 2022

Talk us through your career.

My trajectory into the jewellery industry did not start in a design or fashion school: Instead, I began my career in London in investment banking. After completing an MSc in real estate economics and finance, and interning at BNP Paribas and Nomura International, I felt the urge to explore business beyond corporate life.

I’ve always had a passion for entrepreneurship, technology and sports so I moved on to the startup scene in 2014. I co-founded a sports app for young professionals who gulfbusiness.com

“While working as a diamantaire, I noticed one thing; for an industry that is made for and advertised largely to women, my gender was largely underrepresented. That was the first push I felt to do something out of the ordinary. Meanwhile, I started creating engagement rings for my friends, and their referrals on request, as I had access to wholesale diamond prices” found it time-consuming to book sports facilities and find nearby players to play with. After raising £100,000 (Dhs497,000) through an angel investor, we were unable to scale the app due to the facilities being reluctant to adopt new technologies. That experience taught me a great deal about starting and managing a business and planted the seed for the entrepreneur I am today.

In 2016, I moved back to Antwerp, Belgium to join the family business specialising in wholesale diamond trading and manufacturing. I trained as a diamantaire sourcing and manufacturing rough diamonds, visiting international diamond tenders in South Africa and Botswana.

How did you come to launch Fyne Jewellery?

While working as a diamantaire, I noticed one thing; for an industry that is made for and advertised largely to women, my gender was largely underrepresented. That was the first push I felt to do something out of the ordinary. Meanwhile, I started creating engagement rings for my friends, and their referrals on request, as I had access to wholesale diamond prices. I found that there was a huge demand for accessible yet high-quality jewellery. I also began exploring the world of design by re-purposing my old gold jewellery into something modern and minimal. That’s when I realised that there was an opportunity to create something timeless and innovative for my generation: a generation that is conscious about making sustainable and ethical choices but also one that is more price sensitive. Being of Lebanese origin, coupled gulfbusiness.com

with the forward-thinking mindset of the UAE, I decided to launch Fyne in Dubai in November of 2019.

You’re using only lab-grown diamonds. Tell us about it.

When creating Fyne, I wanted every part of the process to be empowering – from the designs to the materials to our overall brand identity and vision. After working in the industry first-hand, I felt the natural decision was to shift towards lab-grown diamonds. I wanted our choice to be an essential part of our vow to the earth – and for our jewellery to inspire women to make improved conscious choices in their everyday lives.

How do you create lab-grown diamonds?

Laboratory grown diamonds were invented by General Electric in the 1950s and have been used to drive huge industrial advancements in telecommunications, optics, and health care. More recently, the technology has improved to enable lab diamonds to be created for jewellery.

Essentially, diamonds are made up of one element: carbon, which makes carbon a crucial element in the growth process. There are two main ways to grow a diamond: HPHT (high-temperature high pressure) is a laboratory process that mimics the high temperature and high-pressure environment of a diamond formation beneath the Earth’s surface. (Typically,

Aya Ahmad

the temperature needed is between 1,300 to 1,600C and the pressure exerted is 5-6 GPa.) CVD (chemical vapour deposition) is a newer technique that uses lower pressure and moderate temperature (700 to 1,300C).

A rich carbon gas is placed into a vacuum chamber, then heated with a microwave beam causing the carbon atoms to break apart and crystallise on top of a diamond seed, slowly forming a rough diamond crystal. It can take between three and 12 weeks to grow a rough diamond crystal.

November 2022

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Lifestyle / Jewellery Mined diamonds

Lab diamonds

Thereafter, it goes through the usual cutting process to become a polished diamond used in jewellery.

Lab-grown diamonds are said to be better for the planet – how is this?

Earth-mined diamonds are harvested in a long and obscure process that requires them to pass through many hands. This puts more of a burden on the planet (producing more carbon emissions) and makes diamonds expensive. Because the supply chain is shorter, lab-grown diamonds are a more affordable and planet-friendly alternative that still guarantees the same (if not, higher) quality. Moreover, mining diamonds requires a huge amount of fossil fuel, water and land.

In addition, the emissions produced from the traditional mining process cause both air pollution and groundwater pollution.

With lab diamonds, not only is the water used almost negligible, but it does not contaminate groundwater, crops and soil. The land used to set up these growing facilities is a tiny fraction of the size of a mine. And because they can be set up almost anywhere, they will not pose a threat to the natural ecosystems that are at risk during diamond mining. It is also important to note the source of energy used to grow lab diamonds: There are some suppliers we work with that are certified carbon neutral – going one step further in their sustainability commitment by using renewable energy sources in their manufacturing facilities.

Overall, growing diamonds as opposed to mining them results in lower carbon

emissions, no groundwater pollution, little to no mineral and land waste, and no risk to biodiversity.

How do they differ from mined diamonds?

Lab-grown diamonds are identical to diamonds sourced from the earth as they exhibit the same chemical, aesthetic and optical properties, which means their hardness, refractive index, dispersion, specific gravity (i.e. everything that makes a diamond, a diamond) is the same. In fact, they’re so hard to tell apart that gem labs have invested a lot into R&D to find methods to differentiate them.

The main difference we see on the market is the price of lab diamonds. Just as with any commodity, lab diamonds depend on demand and supply dynamics as well as the cost of production.

Typically, they are priced between 30 to 40 per cent below mined diamonds, which means price-conscious customers can buy larger lab diamonds with better characteristics for a more competitive price.

When it comes to the Middle Eastern market – what is the take on lab-grown diamonds, in your opinion?

I think over the last two years the landscape has drastically changed. Our main focus in 2019 was to inform the region of the benefits of lab-grown diamonds and make it clear that they are indeed, a

TYPICALLY, LAB DIAMONDS ARE PRICED BETWEEN 30 TO 40 PER CENT BELOW MINED DIAMONDS

diamond. Initially, there was some confusion that lab-grown diamonds are cubic zirconia or moissanite. However, customers are better informed now than they used to be. There’s a greater understanding of the ethical and environmental impacts of what they are buying. This is also translating into an increased demand for bespoke lab grown engagement rings…

I’m definitely excited by what’s to come.

In business, what is a philosophy you live by?

Authenticity is key. Business can be incredibly competitive so it may be tempting to follow the herd or cut corners to scale; however, I believe it’s very important to remain authentic and true to yourself, your values and your customers.

What have been the hurdles you’ve had to overcome throughout your career?

Not many people are aware that I operate my business from abroad. I launched Fyne from Luanda, Angola after several trips to Dubai and Antwerp to meet with jewellery manufacturers and lab diamond suppliers.

Working remotely was a challenge – both physically and mentally. I often questioned how I would be able to manage a business from abroad, design new collections or scale without being always physically present. However, not long after I launched my brand, the pandemic hit, and communities came together on social media in support of small businesses. Remote working and meetings on Zoom became the norm, while online shopping was experiencing exponential growth. These changes along with a reliable team on the ground have been a big factor to overcoming this hurdle.

What are some of the key lessons you have learned throughout your career?

Learn to adapt, quickly. A business needs to be agile and flexible to keep up with the ever-changing digital, fashion and tech landscape that we’re experiencing today.

Discipline is more important than motivation because discipline is consistent while motivation will come and go. Finally, always be open to feedback – especially if it’s not what you want to hear.

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Lynda Chapman and Pia Dwyer

women in this region are fully empowered and are pioneers and leaders in various fields, and we wanted to be part of this.

As with any new market expansion, we always make sure we keep our local target consumer at the heart of what we do. We work with a local team of experts to make sure we are offering something new and exciting while staying true to our values, positioning, and product offering. We are available in the UAE and Saudi Arabia exclusively with Faces.

Two of a KIND LYNDA CHAPMAN AND PIA DWYER, CO-FOUNDERS OF AUSTRALIAN BEAUTY BRAND THE KIND COLLECTIVE, SHARE WHAT INSPIRED THEM TO LAUNCH THEIR RANGE OF VEGAN, CRUELTY-FREE AND SUSTAINABLY DERIVED COSMETICS

BY NEESHA SALIAN

Tell us about your brand and what inspired you to start it.

After more than 30 years in the industry, we saw an opportunity to offer beauty lovers “more” in their makeup by creating a brand that reflects our personal mission to make the world a kinder place. We decided that we wanted to – as a femaleowned and run company – create a brand that wasn’t “just pretty”, but one that really cared, with products that are kinder to the environment, 100 per cent vegan and cruelty-free, and perfect for the skin.

While it can be fun, a 10-step beauty regime isn’t always practical for most of us. We wanted to create multi-purpose gulfbusiness.com

cosmetics that are cutting-edge, infused with powerhouse native skincare ingredients sourced and made in Australia.

Tell us about your business model and operations.

We saw a big opportunity in the UAE market for a brand like The KIND Collective. Women here are not only passionate and knowledgeable about beauty, but they also have an appetite for brands offering high-performing vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics.

One of our key brand pillars is supporting women. As a business founded and run by a team of women, we are excited that

Sustainability is a key USP of your company, as is being a vegan and cruelty-free brand. Tell us more.

When launching The KIND Collective, we set out to create a range of consciously driven, vegan and multi-purpose cosmetics that anybody could add to their beauty routine. We also work closely with our supplier partners to make our products as affordable as possible without compromising on quality.

We believe it’s important to be transparent with our customers on where our products are made and the steps that we’re taking to ensure our range is held to a high standard without compromising on efficacy or price. This includes important practices such as our PETA accreditation, our boxes being made from TreeFree bamboo packaging, and our hero Australian-made range.

What are your best-selling products?

I’ve loved watching the response to our brand in the Middle East, and seeing the popularity of products grow. Our most best-selling product is the Miracle Glo Serum, which is a good example of a multipurpose product that gives your skin an amazing luminosity. It creates the smooth base of a primer and the megawatt glow of a highlighter, all while nourishing skin with a serum base of hyaluronic acid and natural plant botanicals.

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To complement this, our Hero Brow Groomer 2 in 1 Colour and Treatment has been really popular, as the brushable tint helps to thicken, shape and define brows while also using nourishing ingredient to stimulate brow growth.

How have you sustained your business as entrepreneurs?

Pia and I have been business partners since 2004 and have worked with leading Australian retailers in the beauty industry across creative, strategy, brand planning, exclusive brand development, buying and product sourcing. Our experience, knowledge and solid business foundation have allowed us to self-fund and launch KIND. As with any new opportunity, particularly a large undertaking such as ours, we have had to be meticulous in prioritising resources and time.

We are in the fortunate position of having many amazing opportunities for us, so one of our biggest challenges is making sure we are clear on the vision and strategy for the brand moving forward and making sure we are investing in the right areas.

What’s next for the company?

Right now, we’re working on establishing KIND as a trusted Australian, womenowned beauty brand that offers more than just the opportunity to “look pretty”.

We want to become the new go-to for beauty consumers looking for active, nourishing and cutting-edge cosmetics.

In the years to come, we are up to the challenge to grow to be a global powerhouse, 50

November 2022

“Right now, we’re working on establishing KIND as a trusted Australian, womenowned beauty brand that offers more than just the opportunity to “look pretty”. We want to become the new go-to for beauty consumers looking for active, nourishing and cutting-edge cosmetics” and with that scale and volume, we will be able to build greater recognition for our charity partners through supporting women.

How can brands walk the sustainability path without hampering their bottom line?

Ultimately, we believe that there is no other option. Research has been showing for years that consumers – especially the empowered younger generation – are looking for brands that offer more than just a product; they are rewarding brands that stand for something with their spending power. We have seen this firsthand with the loyal ‘’KIND” community we are building.

While sustainable practices can often come at a cost, with advancements in technology more sustainable options are becoming more accessible and that’s a

great thing. Being true in purpose is also a great way to keep good people. Many businesses don’t take into account the cost of losing people and retaining a talented team. There is so much more required of a business to attract and keep a team and this goes a long way.

Any words of inspiration for female entrepreneurs?

Just go for it. Make sure to surround yourself with the right support network who will be able to mentor, encourage and challenge you.

You don’t need to know all the answers, but you do need to know who to call on for advice and help. Be generous with your time in helping other business owners. It feels good and you always have someone happy to help you when you need it. gulfbusiness.com

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