impact.economist.com Open in urlscan Pro
2606:4700:4400::ac40:9b9a  Public Scan

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

EXPLORE OUR NEW VALUE CHAIN NAVIGATOR

Click here to explore our next generation digital tool tailored to your
company’s specific scope 3 needs
close
ISSUES & INSIGHTSexpand_moreEVENTSexpand_moreToolsexpand_moreABOUTexpand_more
menu

search

Sign up to our newsletter

Advertisement feature
info

 * Home 
 * Net Zero and Energy 
 * Calling on the world... 

campaign
Article


CALLING ON THE WORLD TO REDUCE EMISSIONS

A key pillar in COP28’s vision for battling climate change places
responsibilities on the energy sector


PUBLISHED 12 OCTOBER, 2023 • 4 MIN READ


Ahead of the COP28 summit in the UAE at the end of this year, there is universal
consensus on the target. Over the next seven years, nations must unite to cut
emissions by almost half – 22 gigatons, or 43% from today’s emissions – to limit
global temperature increases to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The question
is: how to achieve such rapid progress?

For the COP28 organizers, the answer lies in twin-tracking: investing in
tomorrow’s world of electrification, renewables and new green fuels while
simultaneously decarbonizing today’s energy system so our economies can continue
to function. This entails a large role for the energy industry, which not only
dominates the current system but also has the vital components to create a new
one.

As Sultan Al Jaber, president-designate of COP28, told energy professionals at
the ADIPEC exhibition and conference in Abu Dhabi in early October: “No other
industry has the same ability to manage complexity, depth of knowledge,
engineering talent, technology, capital, and scale that is needed for the task
at hand.”

Throughout the year, Dr Al Jaber has been working to realize this vision of
energy industry collaboration to fast-track decarbonization. He has convened
energy producers (such as oil companies) and consumers (such as steel, cement
and aluminum makers) along with governments, civil society, technologists and
financiers to accelerate action. Already, more than 20 oil and gas companies
have positively answered the call for ambitious climate action and taking steps
to curb emissions from energy production.

In the lead-up to the COP28 summit, Dr Al Jaber gathered energy chief executives
at a one-day “Changemakers’ Majlis” event on the eve of ADIPEC to brainstorm
proposals in five key areas: commercializing the low-carbon hydrogen value
chain; increasing renewable electricity in power grids; scaling carbon capture
technologies; eliminating methane from energy production; and developing
biofuels.

The first two of these areas showcase how the energy industry can use its
project-management expertise to create entirely new systems. Renewables and
green hydrogen – hydrogen separated from oxygen in water, through solar-powered
electrolysis – share a common problem: huge infrastructure investment is
required years before revenue starts to flow.

At the Majlis, CEOs outlined plans for energy companies to commit to purchase
power from proposed renewables projects in the developing world, while steel,
cement and petrochemical makers could become anchor clients to unlock financing
for hydrogen projects.

Both renewable electricity and hydrogen are essential elements in the battle
against climate change. The former can replace gas and coal-generated power,
while the latter can replace fossil fuels in heavy industry. However, both have
limits.

“Many high-emitting sectors, such as cement and steel, cannot operate on wind or
solar alone,” explains Adnan Amin, CEO of COP28 and the organizers’ expert on
policy. Green hydrogen production, meanwhile, is in its infancy and unlikely to
meet industrial demand for decades to come.

This leads into the second part of the COP28 vision for fast-tracking climate
change: decarbonizing the energy system of today.

Methane’s impact on global warming is 80 times greater than that of carbon
dioxide when measured over a 20-year period, and the oil and gas sector is a
major emitter. The US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, called
on the Majlis to eliminate methane pollution from the oil and gas sector by
2030.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency’s Sustainable Development Scenario
requires carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) – where carbon from
industrial processes is captured primarily to decarbonize industry – to account
for 8% of total emissions reductions by 2050. So far, however, little capacity
has been installed and costs remain prohibitive, with experts agreeing that CCUS
is just one tool in a very large shed.

At the Changemakers’ event, the Majlis agreed that industry should use all
available mechanisms to accelerate research, and called for policies that
encourage the building of carbon storage and lower barriers to cross-border
transport. There was also a recognition that the industry swiftly needs to
mature and scale up deployment to prove that CCUS can be a reliable solution in
hard-to-abate sectors.

In the long term, biofuels may be unnecessary if electrification spreads across
the transport sector. But in keeping with the twin-track approach, the Majlis
said industry should continue to invest in biofuels for aviation as a hedge
against disruptions in electrification.

COP28’s overall strategy for fighting climate change, Dr Amin explains, is to
“take an ‘all of the above’ approach [and] leverage every tool available,”
rather than focusing narrowly on any single solution to global warming. And
fast-tracking the energy transition is only one pillar of COP28’s action agenda,
which also includes fixing climate finance, focusing on people, lives and
livelihoods, and underpinning everything with full inclusivity. It is a strategy
that requires the energy sector to deliver, and places a new level of
expectation upon it.

“For years, the energy industry has been without a seat at the climate change
table,” Dr Al Jaber told CEOs at the Majlis. “But you can’t just ask for it. You
need to earn it.”


Net Zero and Energy

Back to top
north
ABOUT

Sign up to our newsletter

About

Our partnership with Infosys

ISSUES & INSIGHTS

Resilience & Adaption

Circular Economies

Ecosystems & Resources

Social Sustainability

COMMUNITY

Coming soon

ECONOMIST IMPACT

Home

Perspectives

Events

ABOUT
expand_more
ISSUES & INSIGHTS
expand_more
COMMUNITY
expand_more
ECONOMIST IMPACT
expand_more

 * Terms of use

 * Privacy policy

 * Accessibility

 * Cookies policy

 * Manage Cookies

 * Modern Slavery Statement

 * Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2023. All rights reserved.