DUBAI: The Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh is on its second day with scheduled discussions on a plethora of subjects from the circular carbon economy, green economy, sustainable tourism to investing in equality.
Watch the livestream of FII 2021’s second day:
With more than 250 expert speakers delving on ‘Investing in Humanity’ at the three-day Davos of the Desert, the second day’s opening plenary tackled the concept of circular carbon economy — an integrated and inclusive approach to transitioning toward more comprehensive, resilient, sustainable and climate-friendly energy systems that support and enable sustainable development.
Discussions revolved on how the investment community, business and government work together to achieve progress towards the G20 recommendations of the circular carbon economy.
The scheduled speakers included Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister; Lorenzo Simonelli, chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes; Matt Harris, founding partner of Global Infrastructure Partners and Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech.
(All times in GMT)
16.00 - ICYMI - Ken Costa, the former investment banker who has been Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s special envoy for the past three years, spoke to Arab News about the depth of ties between Saudi Arabia and the UK. A snippet of the interview below.
14.57 — Princess Haifa Al Saud, a minister in Saudi's tourism department, delivered a plea for governments to help get the travel industry back on its feet after the ravages of the pandemic. She invoked the manner in which the banking system was rescued in 2008 as she declared: “Tourism is way too big to fail.”
14.00 — Anne-Laure Malauzat of Bain and Company Middle East sat down for a chat with Arab News and explained how the COVID-19 pandemic has taken the world to a new level of digitalization and the world's youth are the driving force behind the ongoing digital transformation.
13.22 — Some strong words from Karim Awad, CEO of financial services company EFG Hermes. He says while the Middle East has improved in the 'G' in ESG (Governance), it still lags behind Europe, particuarly in the E and S (Environment and Social).
#FII5: Karim Awad, CEO of @efghermes, says governance (in #ESG) has evolved massively in past 20 years, but the not same is seen for environmental and social aspects@FIIKSA #ImpactOnHumanity https://t.co/XNaptWaQll pic.twitter.com/W6dnQvifHF
— Arab News (@arabnews) October 27, 2021
11.53 — Covid exposed many economic, digital, and workplace inequalities. Leading communications consultant Margery Kraus highlighted how women were impacted in particular.
11.04 — Saudi Arabia's pledge to reach net-zero for carbon emissions by 2060 received plaudits around the globe, but a senior PIF official is relaxed about the Kingdom missing the target.
10.08 — “I worry about the balance of pace we are moving.” That is the stark message from Fahad AlSaif, head of Global Capital Finance at Saudi's Public Investment Fund when it comes to green investment. His concerns were echoed by other leading global financial players.
09.17 — Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 has been a strong theme throughout this conference, and the country's mining minister has revealed the government has updated 400 policies as part of the drive to diversify the economy.
08.16 — Riyadh is “witnessing the greatest art movement since the Renaissance”, according to Hosam Alqurashi, director of the Regional Headquarters (RHQ) Program. He made the claim as he announced 44 multinational companies had chosen the Saudi capital as the location for their regional bases.
07.44 — Here's a write up of the energy minister's remarks, including his claim that developments in tech could see Saudi Arabia could reach net zero before 2060
06:57 – “We are suggesting a $500 million program that will take care of about 750 million people, like a micro-financing scheme for energy projects, where other lending agencies can join to form a total of $2 billion,” the Saudi energy minister says.
06:45 – Prince Abdulaziz talks about the Kingdom’s consolidated efforts in pursuit of sustainability, adding “we’ll be issuing our own energy strategy soon.”
06:37 – Energy security, economic prosperity, and the well-being of people are the three key pillars of Saudi Arabia’s circular carbon economy agenda, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman says.
06:24 – Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman opens the discussion on investing in the circular carbon economy.
