By Cornelius Matthes, CEO of Dii Desert Energy and the MENA Hydrogen Alliance
This year’s traditional Dii Iftar in the Tagine could not have had a luckier timing: Thursday, 26th February. We will for sure remember our talks and the pleasant time together, 1.5 days before the terrible war broke out in the Gulf. Sometimes I wish we could turn back time…
Since then, nothing is like before… the UAE which is Dii’s and my family’s home is under constant attack. However, we stand firm with the country we have called home for over 12 years and are grateful for the outstanding management of UAE authorities and such an extraordinary situation. I am sure this storm will make people stand together even more and make the country stronger
The case for the energy transformation in the region and globally today is more powerful than ever. In just one month, the massive increase and renewed volatility in fossil fuel prices show how vulnerable we all still are – from pain at the filling station in most western countries, to even more pain in the global south who suffers most, where in countries like India many small companies had to close for an explosion in gas prices, while others have to bear the burden of a huge increase of price in fertilizers.
Short to mid-term implications for energy transformation projects provide many challenges: a déjà-vu from Covid brings similar supply chain disruptions and again long term interest rates are on the rise, mainly driven by higher inflation expectations from the rise in energy prices. But for the first time since I recall, bonds fall simultaneously with equities, a very worrying dislocation of capital markets, with wider ranging implications.
Which asset class can you park your money today as safe heaven?
Anyway, for Dii and our partners with a clear mission ‘No Emissions’, much more work lies ahead. The business case for saving energy and moving to solutions with less emissions is more compelling than ever. In fact, not only that, but the fact that countries and societies really seem to have enough from another energy price shock and renewed talks of security of supply, will be a powerful factor to accelerate the shift away to a cleaner, safer and more resilient world.