Forward Talks

Welcome to the first episode of our new series, Climate Leaders – Rising up to COP28. We’ll share inspiring stories of sustainability leaders and climate champions, driving impact from our region to the world.

We’re joined today by Sheikh Dr. Majid Sultan Al Qassimi. Until 2021, Dr. Majid was the Advisor to the Minister regarding all things Food and Agriculture, at the UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment. He’s now a founding partner at Soma Mater where they develop Food Security and Sustainability strategies and solutions for private sector and governments. We talk about his journey to becoming a climate leader, food security and the importance of soil, and his expectations for COP28.

A special thanks to the Dubai Government Media Office for their support of this special series, which is also where we recorded this conversation.

This episode is brought to you in partnership with Mastercard. Join the #PricelessPlanetCoalition movement with Mastercard to help restore 100 million trees around the world by 2025. Please visit the Priceless Planet Coalition website to learn more.

We’re excited to announce a special series, Climate Leaders — Rising up to COP28, to mark the ‘Year of Sustainability’ here in the UAE, in the lead up to the UAE hosting the 28th edition of the Conference of Parties (COP28) later this year. We’ll be sharing inspiring stories of sustainability leaders and climate champions, driving impact from our region to the world.

This will a special series of 10 episodes, brought to you by Goumbook in partnership with Mastercard. 

Joining host Tatiana Antonelli-Abella for this announcement is Roberta Calarese, the founder of Ghaya, a strategy consultancy aiming to transform businesses into a force for good. They discuss the importance of purpose and leadership to drive purpose.

Our latest Think Tank, “Towards Responsible Tourism: Best Practices from the UAE” was held at the Arabian Market a few weeks ago. The Think Tank focused on gathering perspectives from different stakeholders driving impact across a variety of initiatives in sustainable & responsible tourism from the UAE, highlighting Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism’s efforts with the recent relaunch of its carbon calculator and 19 sustainable requirements aimed at placing Dubai at the heart of sustainable tourism. 

Our host Tatiana Antonelli moderated an expert panel with:

The Think Tank was held with with the support of Dubai Department of Economy & Tourism and Dubai Sustainable Tourism, and the Arabian Travel Market 2023.

ESG – a holistic concept that has roots dating back to the 1960s, has evolved over the decades gaining more traction in recent years within the corporate sustainability context.

Referring to the environmental (‘E’), social (‘S’) and governance (‘G’) pillars within the sustainability framework, they are key to addressing the impacts of corporate activities and investments on people and the planet.

With the current lack of unified reporting standards, definition and many frameworks influencing the ESG space, we gathered a network of experts and an all-star panel from different industries, contexts and trajectories to discuss the challenges and highlight opportunities around ESG reporting – from regulation and standardization to quality data collection and the measurement of impact.

This think tank was run by Goumbook in partnership with Emex and hosted by Jumeirah Group in their flagship hotel Burj Al Arab on 3rd of June, 2022. 

It included a presentation by Daniel Gribbin - VP of Sustainability and ESG at Emex, and a panel discussion that was moderated by Tatiana Antonelli Abella, featuring Mohamad El Khalil - Director of Prudential Supervision at DFSA, Mariam Alqubaisi - Head of Sustainability and Business Excellence at Etihad, Adrienne Doolan - CEO of Green Touches and Board Member of UN Global Compact Network UAE, and Ashraf Abdelkhalek - Sustainability, Health and Safety Leader for Gulf Countries at Schneider Electric.

Tatiana is joined on this episode by Paul Newnham, Chair of the Public Engagement Task Force for the UN Food Systems Summit and Vice Chair of the Food System Champion Network. He is also Director of the SDG2 Advocacy Hub Secretariat and the Chefs’ Manifesto Coordinator. Paul heads up the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 Advocacy Hub as Director, an initiative bringing together NGOs, advocacy groups, civil society, the private sector and UN agencies to coordinate global campaigning and advocacy to achieve SDG2. To this end, the Hub has worked with a community of 240+ chefs from 38 countries to create a Chefs’ Manifesto–a framework outlining how chefs can contribute to the SDGs. Tatiana met him in Dubai when Paul came to release the Hub’s Chef Manifesto in Arabic alongside some powerhouse local chefs. 

Links:

In this episode, Tatiana is joined by Tarek Al Khoury, Regional Coordinator for Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption and Production at the West Asia Office of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). They talk about UNEP initiatives to promote the UN Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, more precisely SDG12, and how we can all work together to reduce food waste. Recently Tarek was also part of a panel discussion moderated by Tatiana at the Food For Future Summit 2022 to discuss policies and legal frameworks to reduce food waste.

Food waste is a topic that needs our urgent attention, and this has come up a few times on the show with previous guests as well:

Philip Morris International's ongoing sustainability efforts include working to lower emissions, use energy more efficiently, and combat deforestation. In addition, PMI is determined to fight the environmental damage caused by plastic and post-consumer waste from their products - particularly cigarette butts. Around the globe, PMI teams have organized litter cleanups, launched awareness campaigns, and partnered with environmental NGOs and academics. 

In June 2020, Philip Morris International launched its first Integrated Report in which they announced their global commitment to achieve a 50% reduction of the plastic litter from their products by 2025 (vs. 2021). Accomplishing that goal will require a fundamental development of public education and awareness. Most essentially, adult smokers need to understand that it is unacceptable to dispose of their cigarette butts improperly. Therefore, PMI has launched a global initiative Our World is not an Ashtray with the aim of making cigarette butt littering a thing of the past.

Exemplary performance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues is important, but it is equally clear that the biggest positive impact PMI can have on society and to be a truly sustainable company is to replace cigarettes with less-harmful alternatives.

The realization of this podcast was supported by Philip Morris Management Service (Middle East) Limited.

This week, digging into the National Pavilion of the UAE for the Biennale Architettura 2021 Wetland, which is curated by Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto. The prototype is created from recycled industrial waste brine, handcast into organic shapes to recall the UAE’s traditional coral-built houses and spans 7m by 5m, with a height of 2.7 meters. We’re joined on the episode by Laila Binbrek who has served as the National Pavilion’s coordinating director since 2014, and Wael Al Awar, Founding Partner at WaiWai Design and one of the curators of the current edition of the Pavilion. 

The exhibit was also just awarded the Golden Lion award for Best National Participation at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

The 17th International Architecture Exhibition (Biennale Architettura 2021) will run from 22 May to 21 November 2021 with national Anti Covid-19 measures in place. You can find more information including a virtual tour here.

We're back with a new episode, talking to Rasmus Astrup, a partner at SLA Architects, the company behind the Al Fey Park in Abu Dhabi. Al Fey Park is the first urban park in the UAE, spanning 27,000 square meters and with a focus on biodiversity featuring over 2,000 local flora.