Episode 5 - What does the UAE think about climate change

Ahead of COP28 in the UAE, we dig deeper into perceptions on a big topic - climate change. The results of a nationwide environment and nature survey are revealed and there's chat about what initiatives are taking place to reduce carbon footprint. Plus - the future of electric vehicles and a strangely fascinating look at the world of concrete! (It's more interesting than you might think).

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Welcome along, it's episode five of Aeolian sands. And it's an exciting one. This is season two. We're back. As always, we've invested in brand new research, sparkling new stats and data that will blow your mind. I think there's going to be some controversy this series to kicking off it really is going to be kicking off big this week. Are we talking climate change? Stay tuned for some shocking insights there. Also in the news, we'll talk about electric vehicles, and are under the radar topic looks at the fascinating world of concrete. Don't switch off. It's properly interesting stuff. Well, at least it is to the man sitting across from me Mir, I'm pumped to be back with the podcasts. Yeah, me too. It's been great. Looking forward to Season Two. We're talking everything environment and nature. We've got some amazing results, the report is going to be out. And let's get into it. Now we had quite big heads the other day, Jess and her very nice team at pods denominated us as one of their eight outstanding podcasts to follow. So that was very nice. And it was a line. And I just wanted to read out from the quote from that this show is like sitting next to the smartest, most interesting people at a dinner party. Lovely comment. But what's your favourite dinner party topic? Well, given the given the results that we've gotten, I think climate change. I was gonna I was gonna go a little bit sort of more off piste with this. My favourite dinner party topic is anything to do with surviving the zombie apocalypse. Because there's so much debate around those like, what do you escape somewhere? Or where do you escape GG? Do you have to get a weapon? Where would you? Where would you go? Do you get a vehicle? Like, because probably the petrol station is going to run out pretty quickly. So you need an electric vehicle. Oh, but wait, the power stations have stopped working. So there's a lot of debate around zombie apocalypse. It's a great, it's a great dinner party topic. That's actually a good one. My favourite comedian. That's why he learned how to fly a helicopter. That's what you want, in case of a disaster and a zombie apocalypse because you just go straight up? I mean, where would you go though, away from the zone, we were already getting off track straight away. I probably go to an island somewhere. Preferably somewhere with lots of coconuts and fish around, you know, something, somebody can survive off the land. But anyway, this week's big bold question, if you're new to this, we ask 1000 people, what they really think about an important topic. What's really exciting about this series of big bold questions is this series this season. They're powered by you. Whether it was via email, social media, or just conversations amongst the Friends of Duke Amir, these questions are what you wanted to know, around environment and nature. And we're going to dive into real life questions, real life opinions of people in the Middle East. And, boy, did we have some big, big questions and let's kick it off. This week. We quiz people in the UAE about climate change. So obviously a huge topic, especially with cop 28 coming up. And actually, maybe we should call it big bold statements this week, because we asked people to agree or disagree with some some pretty mega statements. And let me tell you what those were. So the first of them was, I think humans will find technological solutions and adapt to global warming. And we had five sort of options, everything from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The second of the questions was, I think climate change is inevitable, and we shouldn't worry about it. And the third statement was, I think climate change is a hoax. Wow. I mean, these are these are pretty bold statements. And they didn't come from us they came from from you guys. So I think it's important to look at the results. So statement one, I think humans will find technological solutions to adapt to global warming. Do we think people agreed with this? You know, UAE is a very tech focused country. And let's reveal it. So three quarters of people surveyed in the UAE. So 75% They think that humans will find technological solutions to adapt to global warming? It's quite a lot of optimism that Yeah, I think that's great. That's a good result. And I think that the optimism and the and the belief in terms of finding technological solutions or innovations, either to existing infrastructure, or industry, but even future decisions and choices. I think that's a really, really good result. I'm pleased with that one. Yeah, and you know, Tech has solved other issues with environment in the past. If we roll back Back sort of 3040 years, there was a huge issue with CFCs chlorofluorocarbons. And they were being used in all sorts of deodorising, sprays, things like that industrial sprays, and created a big old, you know, sort of gap in the ozone layer. And that has kind of started to heal and repair itself with the reduction of those things. So perhaps technology, and the adaption of our lifestyles and behaviour can have a positive impact. Now, one of the interesting sort of side points from this point, so young people seem to be the most confident in addressing the problems of climate change with technology. Yeah, I think I mean, given their access to technology, and how much it's embedded in their daily lives, I think they are the possibly the biggest users, but also the people who are driving adoption at scale in terms of different technologies. They study it all the time. They're, you know, kind of when we were back in school, or older generations, possibly we had maybe Computer Sciences, or that weird computer tech class, maybe a bit of robotics with like mechanical sets. That was as far as the robotics went in school. But these kids are now programming AI robots, they're learning about machine learning. They have a really strong understanding of the internet of things. So different tech devices across in buildings, water sensors, pressure sensors. So I think it's it's quite interesting that the tech that they're growing up with, it's easier for them to imagine the use cases to solve real issues such as issues, environment and nature. It's interesting, you know, and possibly the there's a concern as well, if you are reliant upon technology, solving problems, could easily be a case of, you know, sticking in a last plaster. plaster on to the problem is, is that what's happening if you're using technology to address it, or, you know, if, if you're a scientist, or an engineer, and you're looking at ways to solve problems of climate change, global warming, removing co2 from the atmosphere, which we'll touch upon in a little while, perhaps that's really, really great that you're seeing young people coming through and having this kind of perception that that technology really is the route to success when it comes to global warming. I think it can be seen in one of two ways. One thing which which really stood out from the, from the statements, this is around, you know, I agree that climate change is a hoax. This is this was the statement, I think climate change is a hoax. 40% of people in the UAE agree that climate change is a hoax, and just 20% strongly disagree with that statement. Is it scary? Is it denial from people? What do we think is even going on here? What is a hoax? Is it? How do people perceive that word? You know, fake news hoaxes, it's kind of tying in together to find, you know, in a sort of dictionary sense as a humorous or malicious deception. And as a verb, it's to trick or to deceive. So what we what we're reading into this is that people in the UAE 40% For in 10 People think that they have been deceived when it comes to climate change. I mean, I can't even imagine why. Yeah, I mean, when we got that result, I think we had received this question, we were quite uncertain terms of what the result would be, I think, a little bit nervous about using the word hoax as well, because it is quite a powerful word. Yeah. And I think it's not only in the UAE, but but globally as well. I think there's so much polarisation on number of different topics, climate change being one of them. But it is it's really shocking, actually, that, that many people would actually agree that it's a hoax. And I'm not sure on which spectrum it is, because is it denial or is it ignorant? Because if it was ignorance people would be, I guess we would have a higher percentage of people saying that they're somewhat uncertain, or they're not sure. Right, or they somewhat agree. But to have such a large percentage of the respondents actually agree that it's a hoax is quite concerning. And I think this another aspect to it is also it's, you know, this is kind of puzzled psychologists for some time. It's not only an issue that we face, that clearly is an issue over here now that we've seen this result, but also it's it's a big part of discourse in other parts of the world as well. And I think I guess the first kind of one thing that we could kind of dissect and talk about is how do we kind of how do we look at climate change as fact, and connect them to values of individual people? Is it perhaps that because we live in the UAE and were somewhat insulated, you know, there's that saying that the kind of the last thing that a fish notices in a in a pond or a fishbowl is the water? Right? Whereas, perhaps they would be more inclined to say that a pandemic or a Coronavirus, like pathological virus is a bigger threat than environment because we don't see it. We don't see the effects of climate change. So, so rapidly? Yeah, you're right. It's almost the the analogy of the toad being put into the pattern is boiling, you know, and if you heat it up gradually, I think I think that's a great analogy. And I think that it's interesting to look at who Who do people think is doing the deceiving? Why would they think that? And, you know, I think there is a certain economic happenstance or coincidence that developing nations are being told by developed nations, you can't use fossil fuels to power your economy, when that is exactly what has powered the wealth of those countries. That's exactly what they've done and are still doing. You know, when you're looking at America, still huge amounts of fossil fuel usage. Europe, huge amounts of fossil fuel usage. Those developing nations of India, of Pakistan of China, they're all being told, Hey, don't use fossil fuels to power your economy, even though that's exactly what we've done for the last 100 years. Yeah. Again, I think it's it comes down to the loudest voices and in public discourse and discussion, right. I think it's also important to understand that there are two factors at play. One are kind of social factors, right? So that's everything from from politics, status quo, belief in hierarchy, education, religion, these are kind of factors, but then also psychological. What are your personal beliefs, values? There were there have been a lot of studies and psychologists are always kind of trying to understand what's the kind of how do we differentiate between? Is it actual denial? Or is it ignorance and for denial, they found that it was mostly motivated reasoning. People were, were finding ways to rationalise their individual values and beliefs versus climate change. So kind of an analogy would be, rather than looking at the facts, and the all the circumstances as a judge, they're more kind of approaching the the topic as a defence lawyer, which already they've kind of, they're finding ways to reinforce the their own bias or gut instinct that they have. But to your point, about, about, about the, the apocalyptic nature, or some of these claims that people have made specially, like very loud voices, you have a number of activist groups, you know, like extension, extinction rebellion, you've got, you know, part of where you're from, you've seen stop oil, you know, running on to the Formula One field recently at a flower show, you know, so again, these are, this is also one way of turning people away from kind of losing sight of the fact and really kind of now associating with social structures. Yeah, and I look, I mean, I understand and I sympathise with people who are, you know, want to really powerfully convey their convictions of one wanting to protect the planet wanting to protect, you know, the world from from climate change, and the devastating effects of rapid climate change? You know, I studied a lot about climate change when I was younger. And I keep an active interest in this area. So it's interesting to see well, what what is what is the best way to communicate with people? You know, we are communicators. We do this on a daily basis. What is it that we can communicate better? And actually, the action of some of the protest groups of trying to force an opinion onto people is one of the worst ways to communicate with people. It's, it's very ineffective, and it's going to push people the wrong direction. Now, to go back to one of the points you said about about weather, how people are sort of setting their mindset is a great article, which features within our reports that we've written for GE can MIT. It's written by a guy called embed boo Sharika who's the Chief Data scientist@research.com. And he wrote this fantastic article about why people fail to believe things, even when faced with really, really strong facts. And there's one that's really applicable to climate change. And it's something called the avoidance of complexity. Now, our brains are hot wired to make quick emotional decisions. And it stems back from when we had to quickly decide when we were cavemen, and women, whether to do something in a life or death situation. And in those high pressure environments, even a quick decision is better than a slow decision. Even if it's not 100%, a quick decision is generally better in those kinds of situations. However, when it comes to climate change, our brains are still wired in the same way. And we still make those quick emotional decisions. And rather than, than considering long, complicated rational scientific evidence, which is which is pretty difficult to really get your head around. And, you know, I've spent I spent years at university looking at stuff and, and even I'm confused by some of the some of the arguments and you have to really, really spend time going into the scientific and adding to that just sorry to interrupt but adding to that, it's also the scientific community, there's a spectrum, they may agree on 100% of them agree on a certain level of climate change, or contribution to towards global warming. But then you have also within the scientific community, and researchers, you have the extremes on the both at both ends as well. And usually those are the loudest are the ones that get headlines. And that is actually another another area, it goes slightly beyond that, but it's this concept of, of where there isn't a really solid answer, it creates confusion for people, and then they're very likely to just switch off from the argument as well. So it's another thing you know, our brains are, when we made a decision, our brains are programmed to continually reinforce our decision by subconsciously unconsciously. So if you come to the wrong conclusion, once, you're more likely to double down on that conviction, politicians have realised that in in recent years, they've realised that even in the face of overwhelming evidence that they've lied, or they've done something dodgy, that, that actually, as long as they tell a really emotional message, as long as they really try and hit the emotions of their voters, it really doesn't matter what the truth is. And that's, that's quite a scary thought. And there's certainly some very famous politicians out there right now, some of them, perhaps running for office in a year or two, who have who have made these kinds of claims in the past. And, and, and have, you know, don't really care what the whether it's false or true. They just know that emotional arguments are strong. Now, one thing I wanted to point out was the third statement. So the third statement was, I think climate change is inevitable, and we shouldn't worry about it. Now 52%, so a majority of people in the UAE think that climate change is inevitable, and we just shouldn't worry about it. And that figure is highest amongst 18 to 24 year olds, that Gen Z audience with 60% broadly agree. So they are the least worried about climate change? And they think, yeah, let's not worry about it. Yeah, I mean, again, it's UAE is a unique place. Maybe, again, it's phrased in a way that we think it's inevitable, they shouldn't personally worry about it. But perhaps they believe there are people, stakeholders, government, businesses, public private sector, that have the situation in control, and are actively taking steps on their behalf. Because they're part of their social fabric and their society in their environment. So possibly, they feel that it could be that the the older generation has it in control, or it could be that they they feel so they feel such a lack of control that they feel like no matter what they do, it's not going to bring about any change. Yeah, you know, these kinds of results. They don't necessarily sit very well, they seem to be a bit of a paradox. The, you know, people think that they'll find tech solutions to global warming, and yet, there's a significant number who aren't even sure if it really exists. So it's, it's kind of strange. People are confused. They're aware of climate change. They're aware of global warming, they maybe have a top line view on these things. But it's complicated. It's difficult to understand. They don't know if they can actually make a difference. They don't know who's responsible. Is it government? Is it private sector? Is it an individual action? You know, if they think it's inevitable, well, maybe they're just putting the responsibility on to somebody else. And, you know, there was a couple of other surveys beyond this. And we want to point out that the study that we looked at was conducted by YouGov. It was 1000 people across the UAE. But there were other studies done by by Kenny in November 2022. That had kind of different results. They said that 77% of people are willing to make notable changes in their lifestyle. But then there was a another study, which was done a matter of months later, which was done by a collaboration between Veolia and a lobby, which I believe is a French research firm, which found that 35% of people in the UAE think we should change our lifestyles, that's totally different, different answers. 35 versus 77%. So we're getting mixed messages. And I think all of these things say, well, for individuals, look, I'm going to do nothing, because I don't know what to believe, I don't know what to do. And they're not changing their lifestyles, because it's not really manifested into actions we're not seeing individuals do do do things differently. And what I think we're going to touch upon that a little bit more across season two, as well, but we do have something major coming later in the year, which is cop 28. And that takes place from the 30th of November to the 12th of December here in the UAE and communication around cop 28 is going to be a key topic. We've got all sorts of different ways that we can tell some messages between now and that those crucial dates that fortnight period here in the UAE. How would you go about if you were controlling the whole of cop 28, which I believe is being done by Dr. Sultan, Al Jabber? How would you advise him to communicate when it comes to cop 28 and the messages they really want to get across, which is that people should take action around climate change? So it's, look, it's a good question. And you know, what would be really amazing as we would do this survey again, after cop 28. So next year. Also, keep in mind that, I mean, I've been back in Dubai for over a decade now. And it's really the past couple of years, where sustainability, the environment, improvements in terms of infrastructure here, at least, where we live in the UAE, specifically in Dubai, but other emirates as well, has improved, right. And people have expectations in terms of how businesses should behave, how infrastructure should be, etc. Now, with regards to COP, 28, cop 28 is, again, for a common person or that 18 year old sitting, possibly thinking about where to go to college. That's, you know, it's, it's so far away for them to be involved or to understand those conversations. I attended a summit recently, and quite a prominent stakeholder within the government. You know, he actually said that our his belief was that we actually shouldn't be pushing people to take individual action, because even if everybody takes a small individual action, the some of that is not going to result in any incremental or or actionable change, as he puts it ridiculous. And he put the onus, right, I'm listening, I think, I think that's yeah, I'm listening to his point of view. And he put the onus on himself, and stakeholders like him from large industry, businesses, government, public private sector, where they have to make huge whether in regulation and licencing, and innovation and in Investment and Financing. But I think you can't, but why should it be one or the other? And that's, I think, what my requests are, I see it both as a challenge as an opportunity for, for businesses, for individuals, for opinion leaders to really get this message out that it's a collective effort. And you know, you're only as strong, it's great that, you know, your company, or your organisation has announced its ESG commitments, and is doing things for net zero, but clearly, as the survey demonstrate if your 5000 10,000 employees are not in line and in tune and and I think that's where it's really interesting. So this this, this survey that we did is really how how are people thinking? And the other part, the next survey that are the other part of the survey that we've done, is really as how is this translating into actions? You mentioned that other and I've seen different data points as well the study from Kearney, I think that statement, nobody would disagree with that. statement, right? The same way we say that I'm going to, I'm going to do 10,000 steps every day, or I'm going to eat less junk food or I'm going to quit smoking. Everyone would agree with that. So that's point number one, I think, how we think and how we behave, disconnect the gap between fact. And values disconnect. And I think the the messaging where you talked about emotions, right? I think super, very skewed towards fear, rather than love, encouragement and inclusion. Yeah. I mean, I would just pick up on what you said about the the gentleman who said, look, it's not really down to individual action, it all starts with individual action, it all starts with with, you know, your kids at home, what are you doing at home? What do you what environmental actions you take? Are you going to the park with them? Are you just letting them play a computer game, so you teach them about the world around them? What kind of bird is that, unless you've got a love for nature, a love for the environment around you, unless you're doing things on a daily basis, taking taking, you know, your family and to the recycling point to show them where to recycle things. Whatever it happens to be, if you're not taking those individual actions in your own home, with your own family, and teaching the people around you, the community around you. And being part of that, then, how can you expect people when they become CEOs of companies, when they become, you know, sitting on board level positions, which are really the decision makers that are going to make a difference I don't disagree with with that statement that is going to come down to governments and businesses at the end of the day making big decisions around what they're doing. Of course, that's true. But it starts with the individual, if that individual who's entering a board level position, doesn't really care. Even if they've got to hit their, their mandated or regulated position of a company, they're not really going to really care about driving that forward, exceeding those targets, really trying to make a difference, because it doesn't really matter what individuals do. That's why I think that was a fairly ridiculous statement to say that it doesn't matter what individuals do. That's the first step, the most important step because without attitude changes, behavioural changes at an individual level, how can you possibly encourage people at a governmental or private sector level? 100%? I think but I mean, to be fair, the audience was all leaders from, from the public and private sector. So possibly, he was laying it up. Yeah, possibly, you know, trying to get encouragement from the audience, you know, similar like minded people. But I think but I think you're absolutely right, these 18 to 24 year olds that feel a bit complacent in terms of climate change is inevitable, inevitable, and they shouldn't worry about it. Right? Like you said, there are going to be people joining those organisations, they're the ones who are going to be looking for different solutions. And we have to, and I'm very personally, I'm very excited, because I think cop 28 besides what's going to happen over there, I think, you know, that's kind of a global meeting. And it happens every year. And we know how that's been progressing. We understand how the business of of geopolitics and different moving pieces, it's beyond our control. But I think what the true opportunity and the benefit that we as everyday citizens, kids in school, is greater awareness, which possibly we've never really had. I think the UAE took a very good step naming this year, the year of sustainability. You know, the late Sheikh Zayed was a huge, huge advocate for nature, you know, to a point where Alain his hometown, it's, you're at you're actually fine if you cut down a tree, the amount of trees and forestation projects that he's done, you know, he was very, very close to nature and and the environment. But that comes from, like, as you said, being out environment because then you notice the garbage on the street, then you notice the amount of plastic you're using, then you notice how to treat animals and how to how to have respect for for for other living things beyond human beings. And we've got a lot of exciting insights for the rest of the season, where we will be diving deeper into the actions that we're actually taking here within the UAE. If you'd like to read more on this, you can head over to gmail.com Check out the research section there you will find all of our our interesting insights reports there. And this particular one on environment and nature, do dive over to gmail.com love to hear your thoughts and feedback on it. And you can also send any comments over to info at Duke meir.com. Now it's time for in the news. This is where we chat about some big things happening in the world around us mere what we got this week. So keeping it on topic and around the big bold question Obviously cop 28 We're seeing a number of large announcements in the UAE but also within the region. And I thought the first one this is personally very exciting for me, as you know, or possibly a lot of my friends know, but people probably don't know. I don't drive I I consciously make a an effort not to ever drive. I'm a huge believer in public transport. I walk whenever I can, even though sometimes it is 50 degrees outside. So the Dubai's RTA, which is the road and Transport Authority has recently revealed plans for net zero emissions by decarbonizing their entire fleet they have set certain targets for to reach by 2030 2035. And then eventually to reach net zero by 2050. In line with the UAS commitment to the net zero by 2050 initiative, this is going to happen across the entire fleet, from taxis, to limousines, public buses, school buses, but then also a big retrofit and investment in their commercial buildings to achieve near zero energy consumption, putting solar panels or different renewable technology on their buildings and eliminating as much waste as they can, according to, to their studies or their projections. They are hoping that this strategy will result in reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 10 million times and would save them 3.3 billion dirhams? Wow. I mean, it's great that there is that level, I think, certainly a federal level at that kind of governmental level. And here within Dubai, taking those kinds of green initiatives, it sets the tone for the world that we live in around us to try and aim for something that's positive. Or in this in this instance, and net zero, which is fantastic. And I also think that there's there's a lot of opportunities here. There's there's the creation of those vehicles, is there an opportunity perhaps within the UAE to produce some of those electric or hydrogen vehicles that the RTA said, a lot of vehicles are imported from from around the world. Perhaps one of those steps the next step is perhaps some entrepreneurs here within the region to actively go out and produce some of these EVs. Now, one company that is looking at EVs with a lot of detail is Volkswagen. VW, they, they've tried to crack the American market a number of times the US one of the bigs, sort of world's biggest car markets. And they've, they've decided to bring back this heritage brand right now, I have to say, I'd never heard of this, this heritage American brand. Maybe it was a little before my time, I'm not sure. But they acquired the rights to a company called scout. And they are looking to produce vehicles, particularly for the American market under this marquee Scout brand, which is set to go into production in in 2026. And they're going to build a $2 billion factory, which is going to make 200,000 EVs a year. And this this brand apparently existed from 1961 to 1980. It's famously associated with with off road vehicles in America, and they've already put, I think, plans for for things like SUVs and off roaders onto the table. Now, the interesting thing to me was they look pretty cool. They look very cool. I looked at it and I thought hey, do you know what regardless of the name, the styling on this looks, looks really good. I would want them want to get one of these vehicles. They really are cool. So I think there were two there are two models that have been announced and they're going to go into production by 2026. One is the SUV and the other is a is what the Americans call a truck or pickups when open bed flatbed in the back. But they look really really cool. And I think I think you even given the kind of environment. You saw Hummer very exciting Evie vehicle that they took out you know it has that amazing that party trick where it can crab crawl so it can crab crawl out of traffic. You know that? Yeah, it's fancy. No, it does it can crab crawl. I think it's perfect for UAE for UAE traffic the way people drive on the way that we saw four lanes of traffic or trying to get across into the same same single lane for junctions. Yeah. And then you've got crab crawl across. You've got the rivian again, a huge success story in the US. People around the world are trying to get their hands on them. And then obviously, you have the much awaited cyber truck, which I guess still hasn't been delivered yet. Besides all the hype, yeah, look, I, I think I think the disruption within the automobile market is pretty interesting. But what whether the likes of VW, which is obviously huge Ford, they still dominate production, a lot of these sort of marquee heritage companies, the big automobile producers, they're still they're still dominant when it comes to the delivery of vehicles off the chain. And obviously, the difference with with Tesla's valuation is that Tesla really isn't an automobile company, it's a, it's a software company, they are going to get to a point where they want mass adoption of Tesla's much like they've done with, say, Apple products, Apple, Apple iPhones, to get people to have them in their possession, so that you can then upsell them other things. And that's what Tesla is trying to do. Some of the old school players are still very much competing, we build cars, and that's what they really want to focus on. It'd be fascinating to know, because I have my doubts about whether people want to pay subscriptions for technology, like self driving, you know, is self driving even a take off? I think this is one of those things where it's been promised, right? People have promised self driving, and this is what everyone's gonna want self driving. Oh, isn't that amazing technology? Yeah, I think I think it could be like a beat a Betamax. I think it could be one of those technologies, where it's like, oh, this is fantastic. Yeah. But people are like, actually, I don't want it, I want something else. I want to drive my own car, I don't trust, I don't trust the machines, I'm going to I'm going to drive it myself. And, you know, maybe there is a little bit of that where people like, well, there might be a bit of backlash against self driving, I look, everything's been done for me, I've got, I've got aI writing all of my stuff for me, I've got going home and all that. I don't even need to buy my own food out of the fridge anymore. Because the fridge orders orders it when it gets low. I think that could be pushed by when it comes to technology in the future, not just not just with electric vehicles. But push back against technology to be like, Hey, I'm gonna get be that rogue, I'm going to be the Maverick, I'm going to go and drive my own car, I'm going to order my own things off the internet. Yeah. But I think that is interesting. I don't know if self driving is going to be the promise that, you know, that gets people excited about like, I remember growing up, the Jetsons had me believing that we should we're going to be in flying cars by now. Right. But what I think quite interesting about this Volkswagen story is these creations of these creations and development of these really kind of unique, niche, exciting brands, like, Scout bring this back, like the rivian I think it's really, really interesting that you're having these kind of smaller, really exciting projects come out where they get to kind of push and play outside of their boundaries. And, you know, more of like a direct to consumer approach when it comes to to car brands. So I'm quite excited to see how this plays out. But, but talking of electric vehicles, I think one of the things that I found really interesting, and this comes from like a personal anecdote, a friend of mine, a few months ago, switched over from Mercedes to a Tesla. And, you know, I joke I jokingly tease her all the time, that that essentially her, you know, she doesn't want to meet up or she picks certain places that we meet up now, based on where's the closest Evie charging station. So I kind of then kind of looked at it and we're talking about obviously, the decarbonisation what RTA is announced VW, rising car sales for EVs. So there's this thing called range anxiety. And this was a survey done for a while the only data that's available is from the US as of now in southern Germany. So this is like being one of those paper targets at the end of a gun range. Exactly. Except it's people deciding how and when and where they go, based on what they feel like the car can can do or the cars capability are very, very different range anxiety than Yeah. The so in the US Forbes with one poll, they did a survey, and it was close to 60% 60 people 60% of people who own electric vehicles, were deterred from taking a trip, or it caused them to rearrange their travel plans because They just weren't sure that they would actually make it there. So it's another case of technology, shaping the way that we we live and play. Yeah. So bringing it back to the UAE, I was kind of looking at it. The UAE market is projected to grow at 30%. Right in the in the next five years. As per Gartner, they specified that 6 million electric cars were shipped to the UAE, in 2022, which represents a 200% rise in demand for EVs. According to a 2022. Statement from Dayla, part of their green charger initiative, there are 325 charging stations across Dubai. Right? So 6 million evey cars in 2022 325 charge stations. So that's around 560 charge points in the city. Are there enough charging stations for all of these cars? Yeah, but I think I think that's obviously going to change as we have more more and more adoption. It's inevitable. I saw one the other day, I was driving past dragon Mart. And there's this new Enoch petrol station. And I was driving up to it. I turned to my wife and I was like, oh, because we actually needed to stop at a petrol station. Flintstones, I was driving up to that's just sort of driving along. And I looked around I was like, getting closer and closer and closer to this, this Enoch station. And I could see it and I was like, that doesn't look like right? Yeah, I can, I can fill my car up. Now obviously, the front the front of it was all was all electric charging points higher presuming there was a typical petrol or diesel sort of tanks, the other side, but it just didn't look like a typical fuel station. So I was I missed the turn. I didn't go in because I was this this. This definitely isn't a filter. And then oh, yeah, it is. As I drove past, I could see the the charging points. Oh, that's, that's actually pretty smart. It's pretty slick. But I didn't really realise it was it was somewhere I could fill my car. And maybe that's the point. It's, it's really aimed at those people, you've got electric cars. And I think, I think when when you've if you invest in an electric car, you've you've kind of got to change your your, your infrastructure to meet it. Clearly that clearly there is a perception from these big, typical fuel stations. This is an opportunity, right? This is an opportunity for us to catch him. And maybe the there's also a private sector opportunity here, build Bill wherever there's a charge point, hey, you've got opportunity, because people are going to want to 100% Look, this was a US survey and us as a mature Evie market. And they've got a massive Evie charging network. And, you know, in 2021, that same survey, the number one concern was the price. The purchase price of an Eevee car that was pushed down to number two and number one was range anxiety. I think people are unclear about the capabilities of the car. But I leave it up to I'd love to ask the audience. Anyone who's listening to Aeolian sands. If you do own an Eevee car or you have a friend or a family member that owns an Eevee car, we'd love to know how often or if they ever do or if you have a funny anecdote about range anxiety affecting your plans. Or if your electric car is stopped in the middle of the road because you've run out of juice just like my phone always runs out of charge. Obviously love to hear your thoughts. We're on Instagram. We're Duke at Duke underscore Mir and on Tik Tok we are at alien sands and coming up shortly we'll hear about some clever new developments in construction. bringing up the rear of this week's programme is a concrete block. And this section gets weirder and weirder. Every single episode. We've gone from radioactivity to rubber and now we're gobbling up carbon dioxide with bricks mere talk to me. Yeah, so this was a really nice article I read in TechCrunch few weeks ago. I don't follow the NBA. I know you do. So. I don't know maybe this is good timing to talk about this. But apparently there's a former NBA star His name is Rick Fox. He is an investor and a co founder of a startup that is looking to change the way we build things. So background Rick Fox, former Boston and LA Lakers player And he won three NBA championships. And he played with Shaq. So he's pretty cool in my book. He's also gone on and, and he's got a ridiculously long list of of B list movies as an actor. And I, I went through them I genuinely he, I mean, it's it's a huge list, and I hadn't heard of most of it. He was in four episodes of One Tree Hill, which funnily enough, was very basketball focus. I assume he was he was in it for that reason. We look we the reason I was interested in this is because I think it's, it could potentially be a very interesting business that could support the region here. And, and yeah, we may want to work with Mr. Rick Fox. So shut up. He Got Game was a really good movie. I love Rick Fox, and you Oh, yeah, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Now I know. Now I know where we're heading. That Rick Fox, he starred in some incredible, incredible films. He's a top top actor. Sorry, I didn't get the memo on that one. All right. Okay, quickly telling the audience about what this startup is. It's called Putana. Very interesting. Clearly, Rick Fox is quite a smart gentleman, they recently secured $12 million pre seed investment. So essentially, what they do is they make concrete that avoids and removes carbon dioxide, right. So everything from carbon avoidance in terms of the production of the actual cement, but also removal credits in return, which can be purchased. So it's quite interesting. Cement is the most so the kind of thinking or the the background or the context of this cement the most widely used substance after water, the global cement industry is responsible for emitting 8% of the total carbon footprint. Construction is obviously a very carbon intensive industry. And that's what Putana is trying to change with their unique formulation. Or, let's see, let's I don't know how unique it is. But this is the first one that I heard about. And what's really interesting is that they have a special mixture of natural and recycled ingredients. So essentially, cement when producing cement emits a lot of heat and therefore a lot of carbon dioxide. So it's actually a very, very, it produces a lot of co2. But what they do is they use to byproducts of other manufacturing processes, and industries, which helps them reduce the processing costs, there's less heat emitted. And those two products, the key ingredients are brine and slag. And that's why I thought it was so interesting. Brian, as we know, is a byproduct of desalination plants, that really salty water that comes out which needs to be treated before it's put back into the ocean or into other water sources. So this, this chemical reaction that takes place, it removes co2, that concrete remove co2 from the air, just like a tree. That's amazing. And you know, there are other technologies which do similar to this. So one of the companies called heirloom carbon technologies, they did a partnership with a company called Central concrete. And between the two of them, what they do is they they use rocks to capture co2 From the air, the offices in San Francisco. And then what they essentially did was they took all the co2 that was captured from these rocks, and the granite diamond incorporated the gas into directly into the concrete. So they injected it into the concrete. And it's meant to last centuries this concrete and and therefore capture it for a long, long period of time. Much I guess, like like trees might do. The UAE actually has something. Earlier this year, they did a workshop around cement and concrete decarbonisation, which is organised by the Ministry of climate change and environment. And they said that the UAE carbon footprint is 10%. It's 10% of building materials and transportation of those materials. So a 10th of the what's happening across the UAE the carbon footprint of the whole country is made up of that sort of construction and building materials industry. So actually addressing it with incredible moves from these these fascinating tech startups could go a long way to addressing the concerns of carbon dioxide both from the environment and making sure that the process of building as well is reduced. It's very exciting even not only in the UAE but even other parts of the region, Saudi Arabia, massive, huge Giga projects construction taking place. Essentially any technology that turns concrete into a co2 sponge, where it's continuously taking out carbon dioxide from the environment. And then also because it's, it's an ongoing sponge, it continues to collect co2. It allows people or organisations like us to be able to invest and buy those carbon credits. Right. So I think it's a really nice kind of story. And I'm really excited to see what Putana gets up to, and how they progress on their journey. That's it for this week's programme. Thank you so much for spending time to listen to it all. We obviously know you have very busy lives. So it's a real honour that you could join us one thing before you go, give us a Like on Spotify, voted across all of your platforms helped to get the podcast trending and build this lovely little community of Aeolian sands. You can follow us at Duke underscore me on Instagram and at Aeolian sands on tick tock. We'll catch you next time, which if you've got this on autoplay is in 321