UAE holding company launches new entity to boost green investments

Blue Carbon will enter bilateral agreements with countries and private companies

Blue Carbon will focus on investments in coastal ecosystems such as mangroves. Antonie Robertson / The National

The Private Office of Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum has launched a new entity called Blue Carbon to advance “nature-based solutions” in climate change mitigation initiatives.

Blue Carbon will focus on investments in coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves, which can store three to five times more carbon than terrestrial forests.

Interest among businesses in the ecosystems' environmental potential is “growing” as they work towards complying with the existing regulations, said Blue Carbon.

Sheikh Al Maktoum, chairman of the newly-launched company, said Blue Carbon will enter into bilateral agreements with governments and private entities to boost investments in “green” and “blue” carbon projects.

Green carbon is found in living vegetation and soil in forest ecosystems, while blue carbon is stored in coastal and marine ecosystems, such as mangroves.

“The world will require an estimated average of $5 trillion a year until 2050 of climate-related investments to reach net-zero goals,” said Josiane Sadaka, chief executive of Blue Carbon.

“We at Blue Carbon will further these initiatives using methodologies that can better forecast demands that will emerge as we transition to a decarbonised economy.”

The Private Office has a portfolio of privately held group companies that focus mainly on infrastructure development, energy projects, LNG terminal development and water desalination.

The 28th session of the Conference of the Parties, or Cop28 as it is informally known, will be held in the UAE next year. The meeting, which will follow on from Cop27 in Egypt in November, will try to find solutions to the threats posed by climate change.

The UAE, Opec's third-largest oil producer, aims to become carbon neutral by 2050 and is focusing on the development of clean energy projects.

The country has Dh600bn worth of clean and renewable energy investments planned over the next three decades.