Daily Archives: January 19, 2022

While the transition from todays service and brain-based economy to an environmentally sustainable economy will take decades to complete, the change has already begun. The time scale of the change is important to understand. I base my sense of the time scale on a change process that I, along with many residents of New York City, unknowingly lived through. It was New Yorks painful evolution from a manufacturing city to a city with a radically different economic base.

In the years between the end of World War II and 1980, New York City lost over one million manufacturing jobs. In an analysis of New York Citys apparel cluster, Harvard graduate students Cassie Collier, Helena Fruscio, Helen Lee and Janet Tan wrote that:

Once a city producing 95% of the countrys apparel, NYC due to the high cost of doing business, space constraints, and availability of cheaper options overseas now produces just 3% of the total clothing in the US.

The economic transformations during the 1960s and early 1970s were characterized by job loss and the near-bankruptcy of New York City in 1974. Through the 1980s and 1990s, we began to see the replacement of manufacturing by service businesses such as finance, media, information, health care, education, design, consulting, and insurance. In the 21st century, social media and e-commerce companies arrived along with a growing number of technology start-ups.

The forces behind the change included lower-priced labor elsewhere, but also technological change. The citys west side docks were too small for containerized shipping, and factories became more automated and required large one-story spaces for more automated assembly lines. Until the 1960s, New York manufactured clothing, bicycles, autos, and appliances. Today manufacturing is a small part of New Yorks economy. The change in the citys economy was unplanned and coincided with civil unrest, increased crime, and out-migration to the local suburbs and other states. The decline was seen at the time as a trend that would not be reversed. But abandoned loft factories in SoHo became artist studios and then luxury homes. Spaces that once housed factories found other uses and, by the first decade of the 21st century, New York City had been revived as Americas most international city and a gateway to the global economy. The citys population began to grow. In 1950, New York City had about 7.9 million people. By 1980, it had declined to a little more than 7 million. In the year 2000, it reached 8 million. In 2016, it peaked at 8.5 million dropping to about 8.3 million in 2021. Post COVID, I expect New York to resume growing in population as the citys economy continues to transition.

In fact, New Yorks role has changed from apparel manufacturer to a key center of the global fashion industry. This was noted by Cassie Collier, Helena Fruscio, Helen Lee and Janet Tan in their (pre-COVID) study of New Yorks apparel business. According to their analysis:

Though NYC no longer competes in large-lot apparel manufacturing, the city has a strong competitive advantage in sample-making and small-lot production, defined as production of less than 50 pieces Because the NYC apparel cluster is close to fashion consumers, industry players can test out new styles, get fast feedback, and quickly iterate on the design. This quick turnaround is possible thanks to NYCs highly-concentrated network of apparel experts that allows a designer, for example, to draw a sketch of a dress and walk it to the office across the street to a skilled sample-maker who can bring the design to life in a matter of days. The speed and flexibility that NYC offers in serving smaller markets of highly-differentiated and higher-priced fashion product is a key strength of the cluster NYC stands out globally for its concentration of wholesale and showroom establishments. Each year, about 578,000 individual wholesale buyers and fashion event attendees visit NYC, with the wholesale market alone contributing $16.2 billion in direct spending annually.

These changes in the citys economy did not go unnoticed by people who were losers and winners during the transition, but the degree of transformation was not well understood by the public or its elected leaders. I believe this evolution has continued as our service-dominated economy takes its first steps toward environmental sustainability. New York Citys sustainability initiatives are underway but relatively unnoticed. The growth of bike sharing and bike lanes is one initiative. Grading of large buildings by the New York City government for energy efficiency is another sustainability initiative. Other environmental sustainability initiatives include:

Many private companies have started the process of examining their production processes supply chains for waste, toxics, energy use, water use and greenhouse gas emissions. Many businesses are seeing the opportunities in the green economy. New technologies, new services, new knowledge, and new jobs are emerging. The old, clunky, pollution-belching smokestack once represented economic might in the 20th century. The 21st-century version is a passive solar designed building with a park view, housing companies that develop smartphone applications, marketing strategies, health care facilities and ride-sharing services.

While the transition to a renewable resource-based economy is well underway, there remain plenty of unsustainable practices and businesses in the world. The transition to a sustainable, renewable resource-based economy will take decades to complete. The change we need will be given operational meaning by the organizations we work for. Just as our organizations learned to incorporate occupational safety, financial reporting, performance measurement, customer relations, employment law, social media marketing and many other elements into their standard operating procedures, so too will they need to incorporate a concern for the physical dimensions of sustainability. They will pay more attention to their use of energy, water, and other materials. They will think about recycling and designed reuse of finite materials, and staff will devote significant effort to reduce the environmental impact of organizational outputs. These changes will take place in service industries like universities and hospitality as well as in manufacturing. Change will be slow and steady and, like the tortoise, may not attract much attention until the hare is finally passed.

Many companies are moving forward with environmental sustainability initiatives. Of the hundreds I might select, I want to mention Walmart because it is a company based in the heartland of America. Walmart is the worlds largest physical retailer and came to environmental sustainability because they saw the potential for financial gain from renewable energy, waste reduction and other environmental sustainability practices. Walmart has long used its vast influence in the marketplace to push suppliers toward environmental sustainability. Their experience resulted in operational involvement in the sustainability issues faced by its suppliers. In December 2021, it began a program with the HSBC bank to provide low-cost capital to its suppliers to facilitate supplier sustainability initiatives. According to Walmarts website:

Walmart today raised the bar on climate action by creating a supply chain finance program that not only enables greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions, but for the first time, uses science-based targets to do so in a way that aims for a 1.5-degree Celsius pathway Eligible suppliers can approach HSBC for early payment on their invoices approved by Walmart with pricing on the financing linked to the suppliers CDP scores, targets set and impact reported. Suppliers setting the highest ambition would be able to take advantage of receiving the lowest pricing.

This deep dive into the supply chain and the financial issues that might limit environmental sustainability is an indicator of the companys leadership in this area. Its approach to waste reduction and climate change is impressive and appears to be an integral part of its corporate culture. It is becoming increasingly common to see the roofs of Walmarts huge retail outlets covered with solar arrays. Walmarts companys corporate website notes that:

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, in 2019, Walmart added the most solar of any company in the U.S., increasing our solar use by more than 35% In 2020, renewable sources supplied an estimated 36% of our electricity needs globally.

Cost savings due to the adoption of renewable energy is non-controversial and does not require acknowledgment of the reality of climate change. And so, Walmart could simply focus on utilizing lower-cost energy and not address climate change. Nevertheless, the company is very direct and explicit about its understanding of climate change and the companys goal of reducing its carbon footprint. According to Walmarts corporate website:

As a retailer with operations in more than two dozen countries and sourcing that spans the globe, Walmart is deeply committed to addressing climate change. Were focused on strengthening business resilience, advocating for climate action and targetingzero emissionsacross our global operations by 2040, without relying on carbon offsetsBecause most emissions in the retail sector lie in product supply chains rather than in stores and distribution centers, were also working with suppliers More than 3,100 suppliers have signed on.

What is particularly important about Walmarts engagement with environmental sustainability is that it is not something that is expected by many of its customers and staff. There are likely a large number of Walmart customers who are climate deniers who do not believe in climate change. Nevertheless, in Walmarts case, environmental sustainability is an integral part of its business strategy. It is a sound business practice that transcends political ideology.

The path to a circular, renewable resource-based economy will be long and difficult. But I am optimistic that the seeds of change have been planted, and the generation-long process has begun.

Read more:

The Long Transition to Environmental Sustainability is Already Underway - State of the Planet

The 4th AlaskaNor project meeting took place in Troms, Norway on 23 January 2019. Photo: Trine Jonassen

The Arctic is changing, and its changing fast. So far, we are still in the process of learning about these changes, which may be environmental, technological, and social in nature. With so much of the Arctic consisting of oceans, the areas potential is heavily dependent on the blue economy. This entails utilizing ocean-based resources to the benefit of the global population, Arctic states and local communities. Obvious lessons of relevance concerning resource utilization and local adaptation are, however, seldom shared between Arctic regions. We need to strengthen the dialogue between the different Arctic stakeholders, openly sharing and discussing knowledge and experiences internationally.

This is what the AlaskaNor-project has set out to do, among others, with a view to the blue governance structures of the Arctic United States (Alaska) and North Norway. Both regions share similar characteristics. Their dependence on maritime industries and potential for the blue economy stand out. A key component of the project has been to map potential areas for expanded collaboration. What opportunities exist for cooperation and collaboration between Alaska and North Norway? Are there best practices and lessons that hold relevance across the regions?

The initial step in such an undertaking is to give an overview of how the blue economy is managed and regulated in Alaska and North Norway. Global ocean law gives the coastal state relatively free reign in regulation of its blue economy, yet several international and transnational norm-making processes influence Arctic coastal-state regulation and govern ocean activities. Most important is the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which codifies customary international law as regards use of the oceans and provides the basic legal framework for managing all marine activities, in the Arctic as elsewhere. It allocates regulatory competence differently among coastal states and flag states, depending on type of activity and distance from the coast. However, the predominant mode of governance for Arctic maritime activities will remain unilateral management by each of the five coastal states. Thus, the international, national and local legal and political frameworks need to be mapped.

In the AlaskaNor-project, we the Fridtjof Nansen Institute with the support of our Work Package partners have introduced how five sectors of importance for the development of the blue economy is governed: offshore petroleum, maritime transportation/shipping offshore wind, fisheries and aquaculture. How are these areas governed as activities increase in Arctic waters and where can coordination and cooperation be strengthened? It is important to acknowledge that there are a number of differences between the management systems in the two regions of the Arctic. For example, when looking at aquaculture, comparing Alaska and North Norway is a bit like comparing apples and oranges. Alaska has banned offshore fish farms apart from shellfish, and Norway is a world leading producer and exporter of salmon. Looking at offshore petroleum we see that both Alaska and North Norway have highly developed and complex regulatory systems. An important distinction is, however, that the U.S. system is mainly prescriptive, requiring industry standards through regulatory incorporation, setting specific technical and procedural requirements. In Norway, there are few mandatory technical requirements and can be characterized as a performance-based regulatory system. Considering shipping, however, international and regional regulations like the Polar Code hold greater degrees of relevance.

The main point in our study which can be downloaded below is that despite differences between different issue areas and regulatory systems, we need to strengthen the dialogue between the Arctic governance stakeholders by openly sharing and discussing knowledge and experiences in how the blue economy is regulated. Although the Law of the Sea provides the basic legal framework for the region, there is still much room for Arctic citizens and decision-makers to learn from each other. This is already happening in forums such as the Arctic Council and the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, but this work should be strengthened through a focus on the exchange of experiences and best practice. A comparison of Alaska and northern Norway is a contribution in this respect, and the AlaskaNor project is a first necessary step.

See the original post here:

Governing the Blue Economy in Alaska and North Norway - The Arctic Institute

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Buffeted by a historic recession in 2020, Sub-Saharan Africa's energy sector and the economy experienced a challenging 2021, exacerbated by COVID-19-related complications. Now the region's economies are rebounding. And spurred by the global energy transition, governments are decarbonizing across the energy value chain. But the size and scale of these economic and energy transitions, both of which are occurring simultaneously, is unprecedented. Moreover, Omicron - and, perhaps later, other COVID-19 variants - is disrupting progress and clouding the future trajectory of initiatives taken today. With the region beset by a multitude of uncertainties, the only thing clear about what these transitions mean for SSA in 2022 is that there is no clear line of sight ahead. This blog reviews the progress that was made over the course of the past year, and provides an outlook identifying the complexities and questions the region will face in the coming year.

Key Implications

Economics and Country Risk

Upstream Oil & Gas

Downstream

Power

In 2021, Sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies grew by 3.5%. This rebound from the historic 2020 recession, which saw a -2.3% contraction in the region's economies from 2019 levels, comes on the back of a recovery in global trade, more buoyant commodity prices, debt service suspension initiatives, and a loosening of COVID-19 related restrictions. Yet the rebound lags significantly behind the global rate, which is expected to increase 5.5% this year. This gap between SSA and the world is expected to remain through 2022, albeit shrunk slightly when SSA's growth rate is expected to remain stable at 3.5% while global growth dips to 4.2%.

In 2022, economic growth across SSA will be uneven and largely dependent on countries' ability to provide vaccines and more effective treatments, adapt businesses, and rebalance consumer spending from goods to services. Most critically for Africa, Mainland China - the region's largest trading partner - is expected to resume a long-term trend of decelerated growth, slowing from 8.1% in 2021 to 5.5% in both 2022 and 2023. Consequently, Chinese appetite to extend loans - China loaned over USD134 billion between 2009-2019 largely to fund major infrastructure projects across the region - has decreased. At the November 2021 triannual Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), China pledged only USD40 billion in funding over three years, a third less than the USD60 billion total pledged at the 2015 and 2018 summits.

IHS Markit

Recovery trajectories for the region's economies are expected to diverge in line with their respective economic structures. Large oil-exporting economies such as Angola and Nigeria are forecast to grow only by 0.05% and 2.6% respectively, which will significantly weigh down the pace of SSA's overall recovery. The more diversified markets of South Africa, Kenya, and Cote d'Ivoire, however, are expected to grow by 4.7%, 4.0%, and 5.9%. But to maintain in 2022 the 2021 regional growth level of 3.5%, policymakers will have to navigate around a number of major downside risks, including inflation, fiscal constraints, and political instability.

In 2021, supply chain disruptions manifested less severely in SSA than they did globally. South Africa was an exception, however, since the country is more integrated into global trade flows than other SSA countries. Nonetheless, the broader region is affected by same the inflationary pressures the rest of the world is experiencing. For most SSA countries, central bank policy rates held steady during 2021. But interest rates may rise in 2022, particularly if, as expected, US interest rates increase, which would especially affect such countries as South Africa that are reliant on portfolio inflows as an important source of external liquidity. Moreover, a resilient US dollar combined with softer global commodity prices (except for oil) is likely to weaken SSA national currencies against the greenback in 2022, with the pace of depreciation determined by emerging market investor sentiment expected to be volatile in the face of rising interest rates in the US and key markets such as Brazil and Russia. Managed float exchange rates such as Nigeria's naira are expected to move sideways during 2022 to buffer local price pressures.

Commodity-related exporting countries benefitted from a tax windfall over 2021 amid more buoyant prices. But spending obligations combined with rising debt servicing costs maintained a high overall fiscal deficit-to-GDP ratio across the region. Access to concessional lending through IMF support programs will nonetheless offer a solid anchor for fiscal consolidation over the medium-term, and governments can take advantage of debt-neutral financing options such as the additional IMF's Special Drawing Rights allocation during 2022. The G20 Common Framework on Debt Treatment, which replaces the Debt Service Suspension Initiatives (DSSI), allows for debt restructuring and reprofiling for countries in distress, including the Republic of Congo and Mozambique, as well as other high-risk countries such as Cameroon, Ghana, and Kenya. Only Zambia, Ethiopia, and Chad, however, have agreed to participate in the G20 Common Framework. Their progress, and especially the pace of debt restructuring, will be monitored closely across Africa as a bellwether for the difficulty of securing support across a more diverse creditor landscape. Fiscal capacity across SSA will remain constrained over 2022 due to debt servicing obligations and expected political opposition to revenue-raising initiatives. This includes taxation, as seen with Ghana's e-levy debate, as well as planned privatisations in Kenya, Ethiopia, Angola, and Nigeria, among others, due to concerns of low asset valuations, size of liabilities, and regulatory uncertainty.

SSA was hit by four successful coups in 2021 (Mali, Chad, Guinea, and Sudan) as well as the outbreak of civil conflict in Ethiopia. These disruptions derailed economic recoveries in each of these countries, which also face increasing international isolation due to sanctions or the suspension of support such as financial aid and preferential trade access. While the littoral countries of West Africa are relatively more stable, in 2022 they will focus on curbing the expansion of jihadist activity from the Sahel region. The COVID-pandemic has also led to increased instability across SSA. Since 2020, 37 million Africans have fallen into poverty, according to the United Nations, and an additional 13 million people lack access to electricity, according to the International Energy Agency. The degraded livelihoods of so many citizens, together with eroding governmental fiscal capacity and rising inflationary pressures, heightens the risk of unrest across Africa, particularly in countries heading into leadership elections such as Angola, South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. Also noteworthy is that support from international donors such as the US and European countries is evolving to the provision of primarily financial and technical aid to allies who demonstrate loyalty. This is evidenced in 2021 by the withdrawal of French troops from Mali and the deployment of regional forces to aid Mozambique's counter-terrorism efforts.

Since the launch of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in January 2021, there has been incremental progress around key sticking points such as tariff liberalization schedules and rules of origin (RoO). However, progress continues on the diplomatic and infrastructural fronts to deepen trade linkages, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's tour of West Africa in late 2021 and the roll-out of the Pan-African Payment & Settlement System (PAPSS) in January. The AfCFTA, which is the world's largest free trade area by a number of countries, can serve as a catalyst for industrialization and the development of regional value chains, particularly as global supply chains restructure in the wake of COVID-19 and in anticipation of an energy transition. IHS Markit estimates that the AfCFTA can if fully implemented, increase the total trade in goods between its members by a third, and that trade between AfCFTA countries that do not currently share the same free trade agreement would increase from USD13 billion to USD32.5 billion annually. For AfCFTA, 2022 will be a critical year for gaining traction, especially through securing agreements within the continent's regional economic communities (RECS) - the building blocks underpinning the AfCFTA - over key sticking points. Similarly, lack of political resolution within RECs over common tariff liberalization schedules and RoO especially for goods produced in special economic zones will delay full AfCFTA implementation.

Many African governments sent high-level delegations to COP26 to advocate their position that any transition must be "just" and consider the economic asymmetries between countries. African governments, through the joint lobbying organization the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN), also demanded fulfilment of Article 9 in the Paris Agreement which requires developed countries to provide financial resources to assist developing countries with mitigation and adaptation, thereby supporting a fiscal balance between the two geographies. To date, however, this funding pledge has not been met. According to the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), between 2016 and 2019, 43% of climate finance went to Asia, while only 26% went to Africa. Moreover, 79% of such funding provided in 2019 was in the form of largely non-concessional loans, which means that their recipients, including developing countries across SSA, will pay commercial interest rates to access these instruments. In the lead-up to COP-27, which will be hosted in Egypt, African leaders are likely to push for an increase in concessional financial support. President Ramaphosa is on the record stating that Africa needs USD240 billion a year to shift to clean energy, mainly from grant funding.

Pandemic disruption and energy transition-related pressures on company E&P strategies and financing will continue to constrain upstream project development in SSA in 2022, and the scale of any post-COVID rebound in upstream project development remains unclear. Even so, an uptick in E&P activity is likely in 2022.

Only four FIDs were taken on new projects in 2020, but 10 were sanctioned in 2021, including Eni's sanctioning of the Agogo Phase 2 development in Angola's Block 15/06, highlighting international oil company (IOC) focus on short-cycle projects offering quicker returns. Notable start-ups during 2021 included Chevron's (NYSE:CVX) (formerly Noble Energy) Alen gas hub in Equatorial Guinea, marking the first third-party gas to be processed at the EG LNG plant.

While around twenty projects in the region are FID-ready today, in 2022 fewer than half of these may be sanctioned. Many of the sanction-ready projects are in Nigeria, but the 2021 Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) may not offer enough incentives to effectively support their development - which highlights the challenges that even governments seeking to expedite and maximize resource monetization may face. It is expected, however, that Uganda's long-awaited upstream developments at Lake Albert will be sanctioned in 2022, as the critical enabling agreements and legislation for the related East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) via Tanzania were signed in 2021. But whether EACOP will secure finance remains a question, as several financial institutions have declined to offer project loans under pressure from civil society groups concerned about the project's environmental impact.

IHS Markit

Meanwhile, the evolution of Africa's upstream competitive landscape is accelerating as IOCs revise their strategies - to increasingly focus on "agile" short-cycle projects and "advantaged" developments with lower costs and emissions - and new players emerge. Legacy asset sales by major IOCs (such as Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) in Nigeria, Total in Gabon, and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) in Chad) and some NOCs (such as Sonangol) are expected to continue amid policy, shareholder, and financing constraints. Independents, foreign NOCs, local players, and private equity-backed firms will be key buyers. Where buyers are unwilling, IOCs may seek creative solutions for declining assets in the mold of BP (NYSE:BP) and Eni's (NYSE:E) cooperation in Angola: joint-venture portfolio mergers to boost efficiency and reduce costs. But such shifts in the competitor mix may give rise to labor unrest, and NOCs will have to grapple with financial and technical gaps left by departing majors.

Disruption, delay, and muted investor interest characterized upstream licensing rounds in 2021, with more countries since having turned to direct licensing. Last year's rounds in Gabon, Liberia, Senegal, and Uganda disappointed, but Angola's onshore round was successful in attracting new, smaller foreign players and local firms. In general, smaller firms were more prominent in bidding in 2021. But 2022 deepwater rounds in Angola and Mozambique are aimed at major players, which will test investor interest in established and frontier basins, respectively.

At the time of writing two of Sub-Saharan Africa's most exciting exploration wells were underway in offshore Namibia within the Orange-Sub basin - both Shell's Graff - 1 and TotalEnergies Venus (NYSE:TTE) - 1 have the potential to start 2022 off with a bang. Africa, like most regions, has hosted far fewer exploratory wells in recent years than in the past; the 2014-15 oil price crash depressed exploration appetite worldwide, and just as the market seemed to again be picking up, the COVID pandemic struck, which precipitated the 2020 oil price crash. But 2021 showed an uptick in exploration drilling relative to 2020.

Africa's largest discovery for 2021 was the Baleine discovery within the Cte d'Ivoire Basin in offshore Cte d'Ivoire, followed by the Eban discovery within the Tano Basin in offshore Ghana and the Cuica discovery within the Congo Fan in offshore Angola. All discoveries were made by Eni and located in deepwater. Both the Eban and Cuica discoveries were the result of "infrastructure-led exploration," a strategy of focusing on plays that leverage nearby existing infrastructure. The Baleine discovery, on the other hand, was a frontier play within a more mature basin. These three discoveries comprise over 90% of the recoverable resources discovered in Africa in 2021, while the Baleine discovery alone represents more than two-thirds of the resources discovered within the year.

In 2022, it is expected that the success of infrastructure-led exploration campaigns will continue to drive a "value over volume" approach to exploration budgets. As such, it is expected that several infrastructure-led exploratory wells will be drilled in offshore West Africa. However, Africa will host between five and eight high-impact wells in 2022, including in Sao Tome Principe, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Gabon, Congo, and South Africa.

To compete for increasingly scarce investment dollars, host governments in SSA are under pressure to align fiscal and contractual terms for upstream oil and gas with the revised strategies of IOCs. African government capacity remains stretched, however, due to the political, economic, social, and healthcare challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing energy policymaking down the agenda. Heightened international concern about climate change has further complicated the strategic policy outlooks for established hydrocarbon producers and new frontiers alike, as policymakers attempt to reconcile their desire for domestic resource monetization with the objective of reducing carbon emissions.

Nevertheless, in August 2021 a landmark moment was reached when Nigeria's PIA was signed into law. This far-reaching hydrocarbon-sector reform was first proposed in 2008, but the political will to overcome vested interests protecting the status-quo coalesced only in 2021 due to Nigeria's increasingly serious economic woes and related domestic instability driven by two recent oil-price shocks. Accelerating IOC disengagement from Nigeria amid corporate capital discipline, portfolio consolidation, and climate pressures also drove belated progress on reform.

IHS Markit

The PIA covers the entire hydrocarbon value chain and replaces a host of laws - several of which date back decades - underpinning Nigeria's petroleum-sector institutions, regulations, and fiscal terms. One of the most significant impacts of the PIA is a reduction in income tax and royalty rates for projects across onshore, shallow-water, and deepwater. But foreign investors remain concerned by the overall burden of costs, levies, and taxes in Nigeria, which the PIA expanded. So far, the impact of the new legislation appears mixed, with some new projects such as Total's Preowei apparently now moving forward, while others such as Shell's Bonga Southwest further delayed.

South Africa's revised Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Bill (UPRDB), which was submitted to parliament in July 2021, is another important policy initiative for Africa's upstream sector. Since South Africa's government approved the draft bill, the likelihood of major revisions appears low and it should be passed in the first half of 2022. The legislation will increase participation by Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) firms and by the newly merged national oil company the South African National Petroleum Company (SANPC). Fiscal elements expected in a separate Treasury bill may moderately raise overall tax take, but the certainty afforded to investors by the passage of the bill should facilitate the continued expansion of South Africa's hydrocarbon sector.

Further investor-friendly changes to E&P terms across Africa are likely to emerge in 2022 as governments seek to attract and retain investment, with Equatorial Guinea among the countries said to be considering improvements. Tanzania, meanwhile, is actively re-engaging with Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) and Shell over terms for LNG development, aiming to sign a key Host Government Agreement (HGA) in 2022.

The global debate continues over the acceptability of gas as a lower-carbon fuel for the energy transition. Nigeria's 2060 net-zero pledge made at Glasgow's COP26 climate meeting was an important signpost about SSA's engagement with the energy transition. But Nigeria's pledge is contingent on using gas until at least 2040, and the PIA promotes new investment in gas development and distribution to drive economic growth and electrification. Countries such as Cte d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Senegal, and South Africa are similarly committed to utilizing their vast domestic gas resources for economic development.

In 2021 the African E&P sector faced increasingly insistent challenges from civil society and constraints on financing due to climate concerns. High-profile opposition to hydrocarbon development occurred in South Africa (to E&P activity in environmentally sensitive areas by Eni and Shell), Mozambique (a legal challenge by Friends of the Earth to UK government-backed financing of Mozambique LNG), and, as noted above, Uganda (a letter signed by 263 civil society organizations calling on banks to not finance the EACOP) among others, and such legal challenges and civil society pressure are likely to expand in 2022 and beyond.

SSA was the world's fastest-growing region for oil product consumption. But in 2020 the pandemic put a hard brake on this growth, curtailing Sub-Saharan demand for the first time in over two decades. The region saw substantial demand destruction, in particular, in major oil-producing countries and economies heavily reliant on tourism. Yet compared to volume losses registered in other regions around the world, many African economies proved to be more resilient than predicted.

In 2021, product demand in SSA grew by almost 7% from the previous year, standing at only about 3.5% below pre-pandemic levels. This compares to global demand for refined products, which is still about 7% lower than 2019 levels. One reason for this is that, with a few notable exceptions such as South Africa, there were fewer restrictions on mobility in Africa than in the rest of the world. This difference was highlighted in 2021 when demand for products in transportation, especially gasoline, already reverted to pre-pandemic levels. For gasoil, however, the recovery of demand was weaker and consumption has remained under pre-pandemic levels. But the decline in demand in 2020 was less pronounced than expected owing to the sustained appetite for gasoil driven by the transportation of essential goods and the extractive industry, led by China's strong comeback in the sector. This was most notable in East Africa and in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, where growth rates for gasoil were positive even in 2020. Jet fuel demand has yet to recover as other fuels have, however, despite the aviation sector beginning to recover in line with eased travelling restrictions seen in 2021.

The aviation sector showed positive signs of recovery over the past year. In Ethiopia and South Africa - Africa's main aviation hubs - jet fuel demand in Q2 2021 reached the highest levels since the start of the pandemic, standing at 70% and 80% of their 2019 levels, respectively. However, the discovery of the Omicron variant triggered flight bans that cascaded across Southern African countries, resulting in plummeting demand for jet fuel. While many African countries have been reluctant to reimpose disruptive domestic measures in response to Omicron, the path to jet fuel demand recovery in 2022 remains fraught and will be closely tied to how countries respond to new variant outbreaks. In the near term, the slow rollout in Africa of COVID-19 vaccine programs along with recession-like conditions such as GDP loss, lower foreign direct investment, and less disposable income are all factors expected to constrain demand growth for all fuels.

Most of the region's markets have no refining capacity and are entirely dependent on refined product imports. This gap in product supply has been only exacerbated by continued growth in product demand and by the closures of existing refineries over the past decades due to high operational costs, caused largely by unfavorable yields, and to a lack of maintenance along with low utilization levels across an aging and non-efficient regional refining system. Consequently, existing refineries are effectively reliant on government support in one form or another - and 2021 was no exception. Since the beginning of the pandemic, a wave of refinery closures has swept across SSA, most notably in South Africa and Nigeria. Crude runs in Nigeria have been particularly weak in recent years and fell to zero in 2020 when all NNPC refineries were officially closed for much-needed - and long-awaited - upgrades at a time of depressed demand. Although the financing for this work was reportedly secured, the fate of the NNPC refineries remains uncertain, especially with the giant Dangote plant expected to come online. In South Africa, half of the crude refining capacity was lost due to industrial accidents. While Engen officially announced last year that its plant will be converted into an oil terminal, whether Astron Energy's Cape Town refinery will reopen remains highly questionable in light of today's uncertain markets. Elsewhere in SSA, several refineries are unlikely to reopen this year, if not all, notably Cameroon's Limbe refinery, which was shut down following a fire, and Zambia's Indeni plant, closed for refurbishment work. All this suggests that imports across SSA will increase further in 2022, pushed even higher by recovering demand.

While several new refining projects were announced in SSA, most of them have fallen flat, with a few exceptions. The 30,000 b/d Ugandan refinery project gained momentum in 2021, but reluctance among banks to finance the oil pipeline puts it at risk of further delays or cancellation. In Nigeria, the 600,000 b/d Dangote project was originally slated for 2021, although IHS Markit expected that the plant would come on-stream no earlier than 2023. It is questionable whether continued fall-out from the pandemic, rising project costs, and the venture's rumoured indebtedness will further delay this project, which otherwise some consider to be "too big to fail." And in South Africa's highly competitive market, with refineries already struggling amid shifting demand, it is questionable whether the new government rule of lower sulfur emissions - requiring refineries to undertake expensive upgrades - will become the final nail in the coffin for the industry.

Power demand across SSA grew by over 5% in 2021, after dropping 4% in the previous year due to the disruptions and economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand recovery was led mainly by the commercial and industrial segments, which grew at around 4% and 8%, respectively. Residential demand also rebounded, even though in 2020 it did not experience negative growth, unlike the other demand segments. Growth in overall power demand is projected to continue into 2022, though at a slower pace than 2021 and assuming that economic activity will not be hit especially hard by new waves of COVID-19 variants. It is also important to note is that power demand across SSA remains on average less than 500 kWh per capita - among the lowest levels worldwide.

In 2020, South Africa, which accounts for about 50% of SSA's total power demand, experienced one of the region's steepest declines in demand both due to COVID and to scheduled load shedding, which was exacerbated by the country's worsening power supply crisis. But South African power demand recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2021 thanks to the swift recovery in the industrial sector, where demand increased 8% year-on-year. SSA's second-largest power market is Nigeria, accounting for nearly 11% of the region's total power demand but which continues to be challenged by a high level of suppressed power demand as a consequence of persistent supply challenges and low electrification rates. Although in 2021 the recovery of Nigeria's power demand was led by the commercial and industrial sectors, the offgrid sector accounts for about half of the country's total power demand.

In 2021, efforts by governments across SSA to diversify energy sources resulted in less oil-based power as a percentage of total generation as well as the increased utilization of gas and renewables. This trend is projected only to continue as countries and companies increasingly commit to invest in less carbon-intensive sources of power and lower carbon emissions across the economy. With the installation of gas-based plants, such as Afam III in Nigeria (240 MW), and an increasing number of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in, for example, Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa, the region is shifting towards the use of more carbon-friendly fuels rather than relying primarily on traditional carbon-intensive coal and oil.

Hydropower remains an important source of generation in many Sub-Saharan countries. But hydropower is susceptible to climate-related risks such as drought, with important consequences for economies - Zambia being a case in point. Investment in renewables, particularly solar PV projects, has been a popular option for increasing energy diversification, enjoying generous support from multilateral financing institutions. While coal-fired generation is not predominant in SSA's overall energy mix, in South Africa and Botswana coal holds the largest share in the national power mix. But across the region and indeed the world - the future of coal-based planned projects is increasingly uncertain as international financial players reconsider their support to carbon-intensive assets, especially for coal.

Countries across SSA are increasingly taking measures in line with energy transition objectives. This includes fuel-switching in existing generation assets from oil to gas where dual-fuel power plants operate, such as in Ghana, decommissioning exclusively oil-fired and coal-fired plants (South Africa is expected to retire 8 GW of coal capacity by 2030 and 22GW by 2040), and increasing investment in renewables-based projects. Such shifts are occurring at a variety of speeds across the region owing to each country's specific power profile, with key determinates including power supply gap vis--vis growing power demand, limited financing availability, and the need to provide reliable power at peak hours. In countries such as Nigeria, distributed diesel gensets still represent a vital source of power because the low available capacity of the on-grid power plants and unreliable transmission and distribution infrastructure require alternative solutions to compensate for the grid supply failure. And decarbonization is already posing a problem for Eskom, the South African utility, where the Department of Environment recently denied its request for a pollution exemption for 16 GW of coal-fired capacity, exposing Eskom to the risk of that its power plants will be forced to shut down even as the country suffers from chronic load shedding. At COP-26, however, South Africa signed an initial pledge of $8.5 billion finance package with France, Germany, the UK, the US, and the EU to help the country to decarbonize and take advantage of new energy transition economic opportunities such as green hydrogen and electric vehicles.

The implementation of renewables projects gradually resumed in 2021 across SSA as COVID-19 related restrictions were reduced or lifted. Delivery schedules were delayed, however, due to the interruption of equipment deliveries and access to construction sites. Chronic bottlenecks in the global supply chain have led to higher equipment costs and supply shortages for solar PV and onshore wind projects, and are expected to continue to affect both new projects, especially in the near-term, and those further advanced and at the cusp of beginning construction. But 2021 also saw the completion and launch of a number of renewables-based projects and competitive tenders to procure over 5 GW of solar PV and wind projects across the region, with South Africa accounting for most of the capacity. Other countries such as Namibia, Togo, and Zimbabwe, however, have also adopted the tender procurement model to accelerate the implementation of renewables projects. But will such projects, along with other resource-based power additions, provide sufficient power to support the needs of SSA, including the lives and livelihoods of 600 million Africans who lack access to electricity - a number that grows continually as Africa's population is projected to double by 1.2 billion in 2050? This is a critical question for African policymakers and is of fundamental importance to the success of global energy transition initiatives.

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Introduction

With cities becoming increasingly polluted, many homeowners are turning to gardens, by keeping small plants at home, to provide some greenery. However, installing plants at home also means that one needs to know how to maintain the plants and have the time to do it. Maintaining a garden is not just a personal responsibility. People living in housing complexes, also need to ensure that having a personal garden adheres to the code of conduct of the residential complex and does not affect other members.

For the past two decades, the world has witnessed some level of significant industrial and technological revolution. opined that this revolution, despite its acclaimed benefits to humanity has resulted in a worrisome level of interaction with our environment. And if our current ways of interacting with the environment are not checked, the world all over will begin to experience rapid and increasingly dangerous effects on their quality of life. One point of great concern, with regard to the eco-system, is that as the global greenhouse-gas level continues to rise, the planets temperature will correspond to rise, resulting in the melting of the ice caps and seriously altering global weather conditions. For instance, building materials from their resource extraction through manufacturing, use, and disposal have become a vital part of the total human effects on global ecosystems and the earths climate. According to Rousseau in the past half-century, with the rapidly advancing pace of urbanization worldwide, finding the raw materials and energy to produce building materials as specified by architects, and absorbing the waste from their production, use, and disposal have become a pressing global challenge. Current estimates calculate that the world-built environment accounts for approximately one-third of all global greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions whilst consuming 40% of the worlds energy.

Since population increase results in increase demand for housing and more housing development ultimately results in higher environmental impact, the challenge in Architectural practice today is the struggle to find the ways to balance or harmonize environmental technology, protection of resources, and aesthetic content of the built environment. And without these vital components, ecologic/green design cannot be realized.

Ecology can also be defined as the study of living systems and their relations to one another therefore, the concept of ecological design can be described as the creation and responsible management of a healthy built environment, based on the efficient use of resources and on ecological principles, Eco-friendly architecture is the use of nature symbolism to create relations between architecture and its cultural context by merging architecture in the landscape. It can also be seen as the environment design and construction techniques that support the acceptance of the new green architecture and interpret objects in the context thereby creating ecologically responsible and sustainable architecture. ecofriendly architecture is long-sighted architectural and urban planning ideas that give an image of the future, based on general social and political changes which may influence the construction and environmental policy.

The Green Building movement in India started gaining momentum in 2003, from just about 20,000 sq. ft in 2003 to 717crores sq. ft (source: Indian Green Building Council (IGBC)) green footprint in India today. As of date, there are almost 6,000 green projects and over 5.77 lakh acres of large development projects in the country, which have helped to achieve the 75% of the green building footprint target, two years earlier than the actual target. The IGBC has set the target of 10 billion square feet of green buildings by 2022 after consideration with the government and partners. A green building is one, which uses less water, optimizes energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste, and provides healthier spaces for occupants, as compared to a conventional building. It is also known as a sustainable or high-performance building. There are various systems in the form of design standards or practice codes worldwide to enhance the use of green building design. Usually, their performance is based on certain sustainability criteria which are combined to assess the design effect. These criteria, in general, focus on sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, material and resources, indoor environmental quality.

Environmental Benefits for Every 1 billion sq. ft. Green Building

LEED is an international symbol of sustainability excellence that signifies a building is lowering carbon emissions, conserving resources, and cutting costs, while prioritizing sustainable practices and creating a healthier environment. Maharashtra tops the list, followed by Karnataka, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh, respectively. In a change from last year, Haryana has moved up in the list, edging out Tamil Nadu for the third spot. The Top 10 states for LEED are home to more than 843 million Indians, and together include more than 48.38 million gross square meters of LEED-certified space. The detailed rankings are included below:

Many cities across India witnessed a surge of interest in growing flowers and vegetable plants of different kinds. From aloe vera and basil to ginger, onion, cucumber, potato, and chili, people planted all kinds of essentials. This interest was probably a result of an increase in time spent at home but also an attempt to rethink what we consume and from where especially during COVID-19. It is pretty cool to see how these urban farmers have learned the art of farming to get the best product to the dining table.

Growing vegetables and fruits at home mean keeping the nutritional value and freshness intact. It also means easy access to seasonal produce free of chemicals. Though balcony gardening first became popular among individual flats in gated communities, now, realizing the endless scope rooftop farming can have, many housing societies are pondering over the possibility of converting their terraces or rooftops into farming zones an attempt to sustain this practice for the larger good.

Many gardening experts have even set examples to show that concepts of hydroponics (a method of growing plants, usually crops, without soil) and use of greywater (wastewater generated in households from sources such as sinks, showers, baths, washing machines, or dishwashers excluding wastewater from toilets) are feasible ways to manage water usage for rooftop farming. These are excellent concepts, especially, in a place with water shortage issues.

The concept of rooftop farming is new, but it is quickly getting popular among city-dwellers. Apart from fulfilling the growing demand for fresh, organic, and highly nutritious vegetables, rooftop farming is important as it makes the surrounding greener, cooler, eco-friendly, lessen the environmental impact of food transportation, and makes a person aware of what he/she is consuming on daily. Moreover, various studies have found that living around green spaces can have a positive impact on ones well-being decreases stress-related issues, anxiety, mood disorders, and increases productivity.

There are innumerable benefits of the concept of rooftop farming. We are listing out a few of them:

Water is the primary resource, highly crucial to the sustenance of life forms on Earth. Though 71 percent of Earths surface is known to be made up of water, about 97 percent of this water is unfit for consumption. Freshwater constitutes almost 3 percent, which can be utilized for human consumption and is usually found in lakes, rivers, underground, etc. Out of these sources, groundwater is easily accessible to most of us- through wells, tube wells, borewells, etc., and hence is most likely to be exhausted early on. The exponential rise in population with time, coupled with unwarranted climate changes leading to severe drought in places (which leads to depletion of already low groundwater levels in those areas, thanks to global warming), endangers the already low levels of groundwater available.

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is a simple method by which rainfall is collected for future usage. The collected rainwater may be stored, utilized in different ways, or directly used for recharge purposes. With depleting groundwater levels and fluctuating climate conditions, RWH can go a long way to help mitigate these effects. Capturing the rainwater can help recharge local aquifers, reduce urban flooding, and most importantly ensure water availability in water-scarce zones. Though the term seems to have picked up greater visibility in the last few years, it was and is even today, a traditional practice followed in rural India. Some ancient rainwater harvesting methods followed in India include madakas, ahar pynes, surangas, taankas, and many more.

This water conservation method can be easily practiced in individual homes, apartments, parks, offices, and temples too, across the world. Farmers have recharged their dry borewells, created water banks in drought areas, greened their farms, increased sustainability of their water resources, and even created a river. Technical know-how for the rooftop RWH with direct storage can be availed for better implementation. RWH An effective method in water-scarce times, it is also an easily doable practice.

Usage of Rainwater Harvesting in Various End-use Sectors: A Key Driver

Along with being an effective method of recycling resources, rainwater harvesting is beneficial for providing water supply in areas facing scarcity thereof and replenishing the deficit groundwater levels in others. It is responsible for lessening the load on primary water sources, adding fresh and potable water availability for the masses. In the urban areas, it is shown to be beneficial by increasing the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants since the need for clean water is compensated by the harvested rainwater, to a great extent. The systems installation is easy to handle and maintain by laymen, and the entire process decreases the dependence on groundwater, thereby preventing excessive depletion.

In spite of living in the 21st Century, it is staggering to note that in a country of more than 1.38 billion people, 28 states and 4100 towns and cities, only two cities- Thiruvananthapuram and Kota, get continuous, 247 water supply, and all those cities with a population greater than 1 million, get water for around 3-4 hours a day. This is not due to lack of adequate infrastructure but due to mismanagement of the water distribution system in the districts. This results in a large section of the society, mostly the poor and downtrodden, consuming contaminated water for their basic sustenance, resulting in the spread of diseases.

The first Indian state to make rainwater harvesting compulsory for buildings to reduce groundwater depletion was Tamil Nadu in 2001, which has reaped enormous benefits for the state. Groundwater levels in Chennai five years hence, rose almost 50%, and consequently, the quality of water improved. Mass awareness campaigns in rural as well as urban areas were the contributing factors for the success of this initiative.

After the success of the Tamil Nadu model, there have been various rules and regulations introduced by other states, and even the Parliament made efforts towards the cause by introducing central legislation- The Rainwater (Harvesting and Storage) Bill, in the Lok Sabha, in 2016.

With countless predictions that most major cities around the world are on the brink of running out or exhausting their groundwater supplies in the near future, it is extremely important to look beyond the conventional sources of sustenance and look towards adopting and adapting the non-conventional, renewable sources, essential for our survival. Rainwater is a renewable source prevalent in areas with little to no rainfall, and the gathered water can be put to use like irrigation and other domestic chores like toilet flushing, washing, etc. It needs to be purified further in order to make it fit for drinking since rainwater collected from rooftops may contain animal and bird feces, dust particles and other particulate matter, and gases like Nitric and Sulphur oxide; which require elaborate purification setups, which are difficult to install, operate and maintain at the domestic level.

As for the legal enforcement of the rules and regulations for rainwater harvesting, all these rules and regulations aim towards one primary objective: to save water- which is the primary essence of life. Formulated by the respective local authorities in the districts, the major impediment in the effective implementation is the lack of information and mismanagement by the authorities themselves. The residential associations contend that instead of every house having a separate rainwater harvesting set up, the authorities should focus on encouraging community rainwater harvesting and that the construction of storage pits to store the water in already existing buildings may lead to seepage and weakening of the foundations.

Blue Economy refers to water-based sustainable economic development which leads to improved human wellbeing and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities.

The ocean is a great potential driver of economic growth, jobs, and innovation, and is expected to provide economic opportunities in the future. The value of key water-based assets has been estimated around INR. 1,539.73 lakh crores (US$24 trillion, INR. 64.16 = 1US$), and the value of the global ocean-based economy is estimated between INR. 192.46 384.92 lakh crores (US$ 3-6 trillion/year) and more than 3 billion people rely on the oceans for their livelihoods. The total length of the coastline in the world is 356,000 km.

India has a coastline spanning 7,517 kilometers, forming one of the biggest peninsulas in the Indian states. It is serviced by 13 major ports, 200 notified minor and intermediate ports. There are a total of 1,382 islands (including uninhabited ones) in the state. Moreover, the total length of River & Canals is around 16,000 km, which provides facilities for water transport, especially in their plains sections of the state

The potential to grow the blue economy is limited by a series of challenges.

A more systematic approach, based on a better understanding of nationally defined priorities, social context, and resource base, can guide sustainable and inclusive blue growth. Countries increasingly recognize that they need more knowledge about the biophysical characteristics, carrying capacity, synergies, or trade-offs between sectors to ensure efficient and sustainable management of different activities.

Marine and coastal spatial planning and integrated maritime surveillance are needed to give authorities, businesses, and communities a better picture of what is happening in this unique space. Digital mapping of maritime and coastal space and natural assets can form the basis for cross-sector analysis and planning to prevent conflicts and avoid externalities.

Similarly, the growing science of data-limited stock assessments can provide critical information needed for improved fisheries management. In places such as South Africa and Indonesia, mobile technology is being tested to gather previously unavailable data, for example on fishery landings and fish stock health.

Coastal zones are among the areas most vulnerable to climate change and natural hazards. Risks include flooding, erosion, sea-level rise as well as extreme weather events due to ad hoc development. The Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) seeks to coordinate the application of different policies affecting the coastal zone and maritime activities. ICZM is an iterative process that includes a variety of approaches, from mapping, delineation, and demarcation of the hazard lines and coastal sediment cells, to building the capacity of agencies, institutions, and communities to make informed decisions about growing the blue economy within the carrying capacity of its living natural resource base.

Growing the blue economy requires assessing the value of marine resources. Not only are marine living resources poorly measured and understood, but they are also rarely valued properly.

Human Capital: Skilled labor is in high demand in all developing countries and is highly relevant to the blue economy. Investment in the broader blue economy and in parallel skills training for fishers who can no longer make a decent living from the living aquatic resources can produce win-wins for economic development across sectors and make space for conservation.

Secured Governance presents a vision of rapid economic development based on natural resource utilization and blue economy implementation through the next five years. It prioritizes immediate development needs and the interests of blue economy developers and extractive industries over the proactive preservation of ecosystem services. As the scenario was developed over time, it came to represent possible construction and development that could occur with minimal government investment. Substantial benefits are to be derived through this type of secured governance function via many interacting mechanisms, which define and control them

Apart from the obvious benefits of additional revenue through coastal development, one major advantage is a tremendous improvement in the export and import of natural resources in India. While refining valuation methods is going to lead to more rational coastal land-use decisions, it will design sustain additional revenue to the government and improve our understanding of the ecological-economic mechanisms that contribute to the value of our natural capital assets. The innovative blue economy is driven by business-level innovation using locally sourced resources, with a focus on job creation, building social capital, and generating multiple cash flows by stimulating entrepreneurship and business-model innovation.

Secured Governance offers a strategy to get all the basic infrastructure development with a negligible investment by the Government. Both inland water & marine water resources and activities such as shipping, fishing, tourism and leisure, oil & gas, renewable energy, aquatic plants, marine biotechnology, deep-sea mining, etc. will come under the blue economy concept. Island and inland water bodies are expected to gain more from the blue economy orientation in their development policies. It is a concept of developing various HUBs (Smart Cities) in islands that will act as a growth center for individual sectors and mini-HUBs in coastal villages.

The secured Governance concept focuses on strengthening Private Public Participation while substantially reducing governmental involvement. Government plays a supervisory and monitoring role rather than getting entangled into the nitty-gritty of Blue Economy projects.

Value and Valuation of the Blue Economy allied projects will make it a self-sustaining mechanism while bringing unprecedented growth and development for the region.

Social Benefit: Conceptually, helps people in areas of HUBs, Mini HUBs & Micro HUBs, thus allowing greater access to employment and other productive opportunities. Increase output such as tourism and other allied services or facilities in the region, which reflects an improvement in living standards.

Economic Benefit: Facilitate innovation and new ideas in the water-based region of India. Significantly increase the land values and economic growth. Stimulating investment from Private stakeholders and foreign investors would be around INR. 1.5 lakh crores. and create 20 million new job opportunities and business opportunities for locals. Around 3.6% of private investment would be additional revenue to states of India.

Are you aware that your office or residential building could be harming the environment? Is it possible that your building is spewing harmful pollutants without you realizing it? We are well aware of various environmental issues such as global warming, water, and air pollution, and the measures that need to be taken to prevent them. If we switch to sustainable architecture and green buildings in India, not just for natures sake, but for ourselves, we could not only save the environment but also reduce our total ownership costs.

The building construction industry produces the second-largest amount of demolition waste and greenhouse gases (35-40%). The major consumption of energy in buildings is during construction and later in lighting or air-conditioning systems. While various amenities like lighting, air conditioning, water heating provide comfort to building occupants, but also consume an enormous amount of energy and add to pollution. Further, occupant activities generate a large amount of solid and water waste as well.

Sustainable architecture is the type of architecture that seeks to minimize the harmful impact that buildings have on the environment. Such sustainably built green buildings are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient, right from location selection to demolition after their lifecycle ends. A green building uses less energy, water, and other natural resources creates less waste and greenhouse gases, and is healthy for people living or working inside as compared to a regular structure.

Building green is not about a little more efficiency. It is about creating buildings that optimize the use of local materials, local ecology, and most importantly they are built to reduce power, water, and material requirements. Thus, if these things are kept in mind, then we will realize that our traditional architecture was in fact, very green. According to VA estimates, if all buildings in Indian urban areas were made to adopt green building concepts, India could save more than 8,400 megawatts of power, which is enough to light 550,000 homes a year. The rising importance of the Blue Economy in global activities represents a great opportunity for innovation, be it in coastal management, navigation assistance, or biodiversity protection. The Blue Economy represents an opportunity to boost the local economy and create jobs in knowledge-intensive economic sectors. The creation of new services is really needed in order to better tackle the challenges faced by coastal regions and inland water bodies to achieve their unleash business opportunities and boost the local economy. Both local and regional authorities should therefore not hesitate in investing even more into the adoption of innovative technologies. It is indispensable to promote and enhance collaboration between the various actors of the value chain to develop strong and vibrant local economies.

By,Dr. P. Sekhar, Chairman,Unleashing India Global Smart City Panel & MTGF

Dr. Ashok Alur,Eminent Speaker and Award-winning Global Expert and Director, Center of Excellence on Agri and Horticulture

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Green Buildings with water harvesting for clean Environment and Blue Economy

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For the past two decades, the world has witnessed some level of significant industrial and technological revolution. opined that this revolution, despite its acclaimed benefits to humanity has resulted in a worrisome level of interaction with our environment.

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THE POLICY TIMES

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Green Buildings with water harvesting for clean Environment and Blue Economy - thepolicytimes.com

Research conducted by KANOPPI fosters the landscape-based integrated natural resource and forest management in Sumbawa District. The recommendations have supported the community-based enterprises, through the development of community-based ecotourism, the center for trigona honey farming, and strengthening the capacities community-level and village-level institutions. Promoted forest products are forest honey, trigona honey cultivation and the development of handicrafts from ketak grass produced by community groups.

CIFOR-KANOPPI scientist, Ani Adiwinata interviewed the Governor of West Nusa Tenggara, Dr. H. Zulkieflimansyah, SE., M.Sc. to discuss natural resources management issues and the potential forest products in Sumbawa Island, West Nusa Tenggara.

Q: As recommended by KANOPPI, how would the management of trigona honey and ketak grass could optimally support the industrialization strategy of the West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Government in Sumbawa Island?

A: Industrialization must be done by anyone who has been mandated, as the leader, both at the national level and at the regional level.

Industrialization does not have to be interpreted as large factories intervention, but more on the increased awareness and seriousness to enhance the value added of our commodities.

So far, we have not been able to reach the prosperity, because we are satisfied by only selling raw products, then buying back in the form of semi-finished products and even finished goods at expensive prices.

Its time to start the first step of the long journey to make a different. Industrialization strategy must be discussed, both to revitalize the processing industry and in more traditional sector management, including forestry, agriculture, and fisheries.

But industrialization is not a simple process as easy as we turn our palms, industrialization requires the presence of science, knowledge, and technology.

Therefore, as you have mentioned about trigona honey, ketak grass, and others, product processing would be impossible without science, technology, and knowledge.

In Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, we generally have provided or accentuated human capacity upgrading, community capacity building.

We send the best students to learn about the sciences related to trigona honey and how to increase an added value in the forestry sector. We are also creating universities with the orientation on the value added of forestry products.

We should open majors (notes: in our local universities), such as biotechnology, agricultural-based processing technology, and so on. Hopefully with the people who could see the opportunities beyond the fact of abundance of natural resources provided by God (Allah SWT), later, the forest products could be presented as the primary products, such as trigona honey, then the grass (ketak) mentioned above as well as from other sectors.

Nowadays, people have not maximized the forests potential, people still think that forests should not be harvested, but in my opinion, with the right knowledge, forests can be harvested, they can be maximized, and their sustainability still can be maintained.

Q: How to ensure the interconnectivity between the district or city governments to support to the sustainable development strategy, based on an integrated system between landscapes and seascapes in Sumbawa Island?

A: In Sumbawa Island, there are four district and one municipality, which are Bima City, Dompu District, Sumbawa District, and West Sumbawa District.

It is always interesting when we talk about sustainability, because in Sumbawa Island we also have mining . We have good mining products, and these have given an enormous contribution to the national economy, even the economy of West Nusa Tenggara has been very dependent to this sector.

Therefore, coordinating the five regional leaders would not be an easy job. Sometimes, this is because of coordination and communication problems, there were many substantial matters could not be done.

I could see that the Tambora Geopark could be the key as the catalyst, so all regional leaders could be involved in resolving important issues related to Tambora Geopark, so that other issues could also be discussed, such as forestry, agriculture, animal husbandry, marine, and many more.

In my opinion, the geopark is like a situational building that becomes a catalyst for all these problems, so all regional leaders can sit together for addressing much bigger issues.

I think that if the Tambora Geopark could run well, the coordination and synergy between all regional leaders can be maximized.

Kanoppi is a participatory action research activity to Develop and promote market-based agroforestry and integrated landscape management to encourage the development of small-scale community-based forestry enterprises in Indonesia. Supported by the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and involving the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in collaboration with World Agroforestry (ICRAF) and related partners.

In West Nusa Tenggara Province, the research focused on Sumbawa Regency, particularly in Batudulang Village and Pelat Village. This research is in collaboration with the Environment and Forestry Office of West Nusa Tenggara Province, the Batulanteh Production Forest Management Unit (BKPHP), the Development Planning, Research and Regional Development Agency (Bappeda) of Sumbawa Regency, WWF (World Wide Fund for nature) Indonesia, University of Mataram, and the Agency for Research, Development and Technology of Non-Timber Forest Products (Litbang HHBK), the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

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The ESR Group expects the housing market and larger economy to enter a "new normal" in 2022.

Visitthe Economic & Strategic Researchsite at fanniemae.comto read the full January 2022 Economic Outlook, including the Economic Developments Commentary, Economic Forecast, Housing Forecast, and Multifamily Market Commentary. To receive e-mail updates with other housing market research from Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group, please click here.

Opinions, analyses, estimates, forecasts, and other views of Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) group included in these materials should not be construed as indicating Fannie Mae's business prospects or expected results, are based on a number of assumptions, and are subject to change without notice. How this information affects Fannie Mae will depend on many factors. Although the ESR group bases its opinions, analyses, estimates, forecasts, and other views on information it considers reliable, it does not guarantee that the information provided in these materials is accurate, current or suitable for any particular purpose. Changes in the assumptions or the information underlying these views could produce materially different results. The analyses, opinions, estimates, forecasts, and other views published by the ESR group represent the views of that group as of the date indicated and do not necessarily represent the views of Fannie Mae or its management.

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The funding was secured from the World Bank Group (WBG) to help revive the trust fund and strengthen it to provide funding for investors for the transformation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially viable young enterprises.

The Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, disclosed this when he swore in the Board of Directors of the VCTF in Accra yesterday.

The new board is chaired by Mr Kofi S. Yamoah, the immediate past Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).

Dried up capital

Mr Ofori-Atta said the government was aware that the VCTF did not have funds, after its capital was exhausted, hence the decision to recapitalise it.

He said the inauguration of the board had paved the way for the Ministry of Finance to kick-start processes to disburse the funds, which he said represented the governments commitment to use the venture capital and private equity (VC/PE) model to grow SMEs.

He expressed the confidence that the funds would be available to the fund in a couple of months and further challenged the new board to leverage it to attract additional capital.

Board

The eight-member Board of Directors of the VCTF has the Managing Director of the fund, Mr Yaw Owusu-Brempong; a Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr John Kumah; the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, and Mrs Efua Appenteng as members.

The rest are the investment banker and Managing Director of Sentinel Asset Management, Mr Kisseih Antonio; Mrs Mabel Nana Nyarkoah Porbley and Mr Brian Frimpong.

Economic transformation

Mr Ofori-Atta said the VCTF had been made a beneficiary of the governments Ghana Economic Transformation Project (GETP), an initiative meant to promote private investments and firm growth in non-resource-based sectors of the economy.

I am also happy to indicate that the VCTF, under the project, is entrusted with the mandate of providing venture financing for early stage businesses and strategic industries with an investment capital of $40 million.

This is a testament to the governments firm faith in the potential of the VC/PE ecosystem to lead SME development and build unicorns for the country, the minister said.

He said the new board was mandated to reposition the VCTF to help increase the total value of investment attracted into the country from the current 22 per cent to 35 per cent, adding that the government had created the enabling environment for the board to succeed in that regard.

Achievements

The minister said since its establishment in 2004, the VCTF had created seven funds, with investments in over 60 companies.

He said the funds were created through leveraging an additional $89.7 million from an invested capital of $29 million.

Direct sustainable jobs created from these investments are over 3,400, with an additional 13,500 indirect ones. Yet, a lot more can be done, Mr Ofori-Atta said, and charged the board to be innovative in attracting funding to augment that provided by the government.

Priority

The Chairman of the VCTF Board commended the minister for the confidence reposed in the board and pledged to help reposition the VCTF as a growth enabler for SMEs.

Mr Yamoah said capital and corporate governance would be of priority to the board in the drive to build a venture capital fund that could support sustainable economic development.

He expressed optimism that the $40 million capital would be disbursed on time to enable the trust to capitalise on it to support businesses.

Confidence

He said confidence in the fund had returned, following a rigorous clean-up exercise that rid the place of poor corporate governance practices.Consequently, he said, it was ready for take-off and appealed to the minister to fast-track the disbursement of the funds promised.

He also appealed for a permanent source of funding to ensure a steady flow of capital to the VCTF for optimal impact.

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Venture Capital Fund to be recapitalised with $40 million - BusinessGhana

Thanks to ad-supported digital opportunities, small businesses and creators are reaching more customers and growing, but backwards-looking tech policies could inhibit innovation

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Internet for Growth, a rapidly expanding coalition of more than 280 creators, entrepreneurs, and small businesses from across the country, launched to advocate for the ad-supported internet, to continue growth in the important economic sector.

In addition to these creators and small businesses, more than 700 members of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), including marketers, agencies, publishers, platforms, and ad tech firms, are supporting Internet for Growth to raise the voice of Main Street in the data protection and privacy debate. The coalition's long-term goal is to ensure any legislation or regulation affecting the technologies they use incorporates their experience and perspective.

The nationwide community of innovators behind Internet for Growth will illustrate to policymakers and the public how the ad-supported internet helps bridge Main Street to the new information economy. By opening access for local businesses to a wider audience, spurring competitiveness, and expanding choice for consumers, the internet serves as an essential resource to even the smallest storefronts across America.

"The ad-supported internet plays a critical role in enabling competitiveness and empowering entrepreneurialism in communities across America," said IAB CEO David Cohen. "More internet jobs were created by small businesses and individuals than by the largest internet companies, yet their voices often go unheard. Internet for Growth will inject creators' and small businesses' vital perspectives into the discussion."

The internet has redefined how small businesses operate. Internet for Growth's digital channels, multi-media content, and events will offer opinion leaders and lawmakers the expertise of a vast network of technologists and their users working together to expand creativity, jobs and economic growth. While U.S. GDP has hovered around three percent recently, the internet economy has reached an average 22 percent growth rate over the last four years, according to IAB's latest study of the market-making internet.

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"This is the 15-year anniversary of Bilingual Birdies," said Sarah Farzam, Founder and CEO of Bilingual Birdies. "The internet and related services have been critical in every phase of my business growth. When I was building my business, I relied on the internet to find business related services and was able to work with suppliers and vendors from around the world. As my business grew, online marketing was essential to help me develop lead generation, and now I utilize social and video sharing platforms to connect with our network of instructors and reach out to potential new partners who are interested in starting their own Bilingual Birdies program in their community."

"Youme Healthcare's business model is 100% telehealth," said Hafeezah Muhammad, CEO of Youme Healthcare. "Our unique behavioral and mental healthcare model gives children, teens and their families greater access to care by making intervention faster. Our practice is based on telehealth, because we believe it works best for children and their families. Patients are more comfortable with sessions conducted from the comfort of their home. Many adolescents fear their friends will find out they go to therapy, so telehealth eliminates this barrier. The younger generation has grown up with technology, and with telehealth it's like talking to a friend. Appointments are faster and easier to schedule, making care more accessible. My business model would not have been possible if it weren't for the internet."

About Internet for Growth

Internet for Growth, an initiative of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, supports the transformative role the advertising-supported internet plays in empowering America's small businesses, helping entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life. Supported by a diverse community of over 700 IAB members including marketers, agencies, publishers, platforms and ad tech providers, as well as hundreds of small businesses and creators, we highlight the benefits the internet delivers to local economies, expanding opportunities for innovators to reach markets far beyond their neighborhoods. Our work ensures people understand the limitless opportunity the internet provides for creativity and commerce, fair competition, and connecting with consumers on mutually shared values and interests, no matter the background or geography.

For media inquiries please contact:Brendan ThomasBrendan@IAB.com

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hundreds-of-small-businesses-and-creators-form-internet-for-growth-coalition-to-celebrate-the-power-of-the-ad-supported-internet-301464010.html

SOURCE Internet for Growth

Read more from the original source:

Hundreds of small businesses and creators form Internet for Growth coalition to celebrate the power of the ad-supported internet - Yahoo Finance