Few people have made as big an impact in the carbon markets this year as Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook al-Maktoum. The young member of Dubai’s ruling royal family is behind a series of carbon offsetting deals covering enormous areas of African forest, which could one day be worth billions.
Through the United Arab Emirates-based company Blue Carbon, the sheikh’s deals cover a fifth of Zimbabwe, 10% of Liberia, 10% of Zambia and 8% of Tanzania, collectively amounting to an area the size of the UK – and more are expected.
