‘Govt, investors have role in achieving net-zero economy’

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 11, (KUNA): Kuwaiti Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of State for Economic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel held talks on Tuesday with visiting Lord Mayor of the City of London William Russell, on enhancing ties between the two countries.

The meeting dealt with investment opportunities in both countries in public and private sectors, Al-Aqeel said in a press statement. She pointed out that the meeting came as part of Russel’s and his accompanying delegation’s official visit to the country.

The meeting was attended by the Managing Director at Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) and KIA representatives. Meanwhile, Lord Mayor of the City of London William Russell said that governments and investors have a major role to play to achieve a net-zero economy. This came in a speech by Mayor Russell during a forum on sustainable finance ESG organized by Ahli United Bank (AUB) on Tuesday.

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“Finance has a privilege role in our global transition to a net-zero and climate resilient future, that’s because finance connects with all other sectors,” said Russell.

Russell pointed out that the UK was the first G7 country to legislate for a zero carbon emissions, which it aims to achieve by 2050, noting that in 2035 the UK would only have electric cars.

The new majority government of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said Russell, would encourage investors to contribute to economic projects the country planned to launch soon. The City of London has been working for more than 800 years to maintaining economic and financial leadership of the British capital, as well as seeking to attract investors including those from State of Kuwait.

He also said that those who are in the financial sector need to identify the positive actions to take, stressing that there are huge opportunities to invest in the transition to zero carbon economy.

Kuwait is doing a great progress in green financing through the Kuwaiti Investment Authority (KIA) One Planet Initiative, he added. For her part, AUB Acting CEO, Jehad Al-Humaidhi affirmed that AUB took several steps towards sustainable financing, noting that in 2011 the bank adopted the Equator Principles and in 2020 the bank adopted the UN Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). The forum was attended by British Ambassador to Kuwait Michael Davenport and several AUB officials.

Russell is a British financier, who is serving as the 692nd Lord Mayor of the City of London for 2019-2020 and a member of the Advisory Board of Innovate Finance, an independent not-forprofit membership organization serving the global FinTech community and a Court Assistant to the Haberdashers’ Company.