Who is the UAE sheikh behind deals to manage vast areas of African forest?

Through the firm Blue Carbon, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook al-Maktoum’s carbon offsetting deals, which could one day be worth billions, have led to questions about previous business ventures

• The new ‘scramble for Africa’: how a UAE sheikh quietly made carbon deals for forests bigger than UK

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.