Business

UAE continues to mobilise support for its re-election Category-B membership in IMO Council

DUBAI, 30th November, 2021 (WAM) — The UAE continues its efforts to mobilise support of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) member states for its re-election to the IMO Council Category-B membership.

The elections will be held in December 2021 in London, UK. The UAE seeks to highlight its pioneering role and unremitting efforts in strengthening the national maritime sector and supporting the maritime and logistics industry worldwide.

The UAE also underlines its pivotal role in developing strategies, policies and agreements that enhance safety standards and protect the marine environment.

Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, emphasised that the UAE is one of the key maritime countries regionally and globally. Aside from having the support of many world countries, he explained, all maritime organisations and bodies commend the UAE’s role in facilitating maritime trade worldwide, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Al Mazrouei added, "Through its membership in the IMO Council Category-B, the UAE has played an active role and succeeded in developing the maritime industry. This was achieved by formulating strategies and policies, setting standards regulating the work of the maritime sector, and strengthening maritime legislation and regulations to serve the shipping sector and international trade. The UAE has also introduced fundamental amendments to many decisions that have development and improved the work system to keep pace with global developments and mobilise efforts for the safety, security and protection of the marine environment worldwide. We hope to continue this role, in close cooperation with the other member states, to advance the global maritime sector and the shipping industry, as well as enhance maritime safety and security and protect the marine environment worldwide."

Hessa Al Malek, Advisor to the Minister for Maritime Transport Affairs, UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, said, "The UAE actively participates in all IMO activities, main technical committees, sub-committees, and related working groups. The UAE hosted several regional workshops to assist IMO to deliver capabilities in implementing international maritime regulations and standards. We exert all efforts to rally support for the UAE’s re-election to the IMO Council Category-B to continue its role in serving the maritime sector and enhance women’s participation in the maritime sector. The UAE contributed to drafting several IMO resolutions for women empowerment, gender equality and enhancing women’s participation in the maritime sector. It also took part in preparing a proposal to add a reference to women empowerment in IMO’s strategic direction. This was unanimously approved by the Council. Additionally, the IMO Council decided to establish the International Day for Women in Maritime, to be observed on 18th May every year."

Mohammed Khamis Al Kaabi, UAE Permanent Representative at the IMO, said that the UAE is highly commended by IMO member states for its key role in supporting global trade. The country was ranked 3rd worldwide in transport services trade and fifth as a key competitive maritime hub.

Al Kaabi added, "The UAE is intensifying its efforts to mobilise support for its re-election to the IMO Council Category-B for the third time in a row. We continue to meet with representatives of IMO member states to highlight the UAE’s achievements in the maritime sector and its efforts since its election to the IMO Council for the time in 2017. We also talk about the UAE’s contributions to support the reforms undertaken by IMO ad well as its seaborne trade and transhipment efforts to cater to about two billion people in China, India, the GCC States to Eurasia and all the way to Eastern Europe."

In 2017, the UAE was elected to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Council under category B and was re-elected in 2019. The UAE is seeking re-election for the third consecutive time.

Election will take place from 6th to 15th December, 2021 in London. The UAE aims to continue its active role in strengthening maritime legislation and regulations to serve the shipping sector and international trade.

Business

Russian ruble holds steady at 96 against the US dollar ahead of tax payments

The Russian ruble steadied near 96 to the dollar on Tuesday, trading in a narrow band, supported by upcoming tax payments and high oil prices.
At 0710 GMT, the ruble was 0.2 percent stronger against the dollar at 96.10 and had gained 0.3 percent to trade at 101.69 versus the euro. It had firmed 0.1 percent against the yuan to 13.13.
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Month-end tax payments, that usually see exporters convert foreign currency revenues to pay local liabilities, support the ruble, but the currency can slide early in the month once the period has passed.
The ruble has also now lost the temporary support of higher sales of foreign currency than usual by the central bank, which was selling around 21.4 billion rubles of yuan a day until the start of this week.
“At the end of the week, when the tax period ends, there is a high likelihood of the resumption of the national currency’s smooth devaluation,” said Alor Broker’s Alexei Antonov.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was down 1.1 percent at $92.23 a barrel.
Russian stock indexes were lower.
The dollar denominated RTS index was down 0.5 percent to 992.5 points.

The ruble based MOEX Russian index was 0.6 percent lower at 3,028.8 points.
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Business

Digital, electric solutions can cut carbon emissions in office buildings by 70 pct

Retrofitting buildings using a digital-first approach is the best pathway to decarbonization, according to new research from Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation.
Buildings represent an estimated 37 percent of global carbon emissions, and as about half of today’s buildings are still likely to be in use in 2050, the sector must urgently reduce operational carbon emissions, by making buildings more energy efficient.
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The research findings show that deploying Schneider Electric’s digital building and power management solutions in existing office buildings could reduce their operational carbon emissions by up to 42 percent with a payback period of less than three years. If fossil fuel-powered heating technologies are replaced with electric-powered alternatives, and a microgrid with local renewable energy sources is installed, all-electric, all-digital buildings will see an additional 28 percent reduction in operational carbon emissions resulting in a total reduction of up to 70 percent.

Mike Kazmierczak, Vice President of the Digital Energy Decarbonization Office, the team leading the science-based research and product innovation to accelerate the energy transition within Schneider Electric’s Digital Energy division, explained that, “Tackling operational emissions is the number-one lever to decarbonize existing buildings at scale and achieve net-zero emissions targets by 2050. This breakthrough research reveals that reducing carbon emissions by up to 70 percent is feasible if we transform our existing building stock into energy-efficient, fully-electrified, and digitized assets.”
The research, carried out with the global design firm WSP, is based on modeling the energy performance and carbon emissions of a large office building built in the early 2000s across various US Climate Zones. This digital approach to building renovations is, however, applicable to all building types and climates, and is, therefore, the most effective building decarbonization strategy, yielding fast results with lower ‘upfront carbon.’
Renovating through the deployment of digital technologies is not only less disruptive to daily operations, but also more effective from a lifecycle carbon perspective. Failing to rapidly decarbonize buildings could also result in stranded assets that lose value and are unattractive to both investors and tenants.
Furthermore, recent research from the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability and the Schneider Electric Sustainability Research Institute estimates that there is a sizable potential to create new jobs through the transition to low-carbon buildings.

Schneider Electric’s first Sustainability School opens for enrolment

Business

UK’s cost of living crisis to significantly increase early death: Study

The UK’s inflation-fueled cost-of-living crisis is set to “cut lives short” and “significantly widen the wealth-health gap”, according to a study published by open access journal BMJ Public Health on Monday.

Modelling conducted for the study predicted that the proportion of people “dying before their time” (under the age of 75) will rise by nearly 6.5 percent due to the sustained period of high prices.

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The most deprived households will experience four times the number of extra deaths than the wealthiest households, it forecast, with the poorest having to spend a larger proportion of their income on energy, the cost of which has soared.

The researchers studied the impact of inflation on death rates in Scotland in 2022-3, with and without mitigating measures such as government support to help cut household bills.

The collected data was then used to model various potential future outcomes on life expectancy and inequalities for the UK as a whole if different mitigating policies were implemented.

Without any mitigation, the model found that inflation could increase deaths by five percent in the least deprived areas and by 23 percent in the most deprived — coming down to two percent and eight percent with mitigation, with an overall rate of around 6.5 percent.

Overall life expectancy would also fall in each case, it added.

“Our analysis contributes to evidence that the economy matters for population health,” said the researchers.

“The mortality impacts of inflation and real-terms income reduction are likely to be large and negative, with marked inequalities in how these are experienced.

“Implemented public policy responses are not sufficient to protect health and prevent widening inequalities,” they added.

UK inflation unexpectedly slowed in August to 6.7 percent from a high of 11.1 percent, but remains the highest in the G7, fueled by coronavirus lockdowns, Brexit and the war in Ukraine.

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Bank of England set to hike interest rates to battle inflation