Building climate-ready communities this World Science Day for Peace and Development

This year marks the 20^th edition of World Science Day for Peace and Development, a United Nations recognized awareness day created to strengthen the public awareness of the role that science plays in creating and maintaining peaceful and sustainable societies.

The day offers the opportunity to mobilize all sectors around the topic of science for peace and development – from government officials to the media, businesses, individuals and importantly school pupils.  The 2021 theme, Building Climate-Ready Communities, energizes the key objective to bring science closer to society by highlighting some key scientific aspects and possible solutions provided by science, technology and innovation that can help to address some of the major and rather pressing global challenges we all face today.

At Abdul Latif Jameel, science is the cornerstone to how the business operates and plays a huge role in both the day-to-day decisions and operations, and in the Jameel Family’s investments in life sciences and technology. 

At JIMCO (Jameel Investment Management Company), environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments are the game changer.  JIMCO’s early-stage investment in EV innovator RIVIAN, and air-taxi pioneer Joby Aviation are examples of supporting what were then fledging start-ups which have a vision to do things better, do things differently and all for the better of the planet and our societies. 

When asked about identifying potential investments and the criteria companies must match, Onur Aydin, Managing Director, JIMCO Technology Fund said in this interview:

“We don’t mind missing a purely financial opportunity if the investment doesn’t meet our priorities in terms of the vision for the business or its approach to ESG.  We want the make investments we can be proud of in the long term.”

The latest IPCC report provides new estimates of the chances of exceeding the global warming target in the next decades, and finds that unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond our reach.

The report shows that emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are responsible for approximately 1.1°C of warming since 1850-1900, and finds that averaged over the next 20 years, global temperature is expected to reach or exceed 1.5°C of warming.

Preparing for the kinds of actions envisaged by the IPCC to combat climate change is not a short-term task, but one that depends on long term thinking, investment and commitment – three qualities the Jameel Family is quietly proud to have demonstrated consistently over the past 75 years.

For our part, Abdul Latif Jameel is dedicated to overcoming the challenges that lie ahead, not least through our pioneering projects in solar and wind energy through FRV, a leading global developer of renewable utility-scale projects and part of Abdul Latif Jameel Energy, and our fast-growing work to addressing water availability, through Almar Water Solutions.  

We are also working with other leading global private businesses in the Clean, Renewable and Environmental Opportunities Syndicate to help catalyze both business and government investment into solutions to decarbonize industry and combat climate change.

In his recent Spotlight article, The Chilling Science of ‘Wet-Bulb’ Temperatures, Fady Jameel, Deputy President and Vice Chairman, Abdul Latif Jameel, says:

“As we begin the process of rebuilding our economies after the global pandemic, we must take the opportunity to act now.  To steer a new course towards a more sustainable future.  And to stop our society from literally over-heating.”

#scienceday