Mon, May 22, 2023 page12

• Oil giants turn to start-ups in carbon capture bid

  • AFP, ABU DHABI
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  Faced with mounting pressure over planet-heating pollution, Gulf Arab energy giants are turning to humble tech start-ups as they search for ways to remove emissions while keeping oil flowing.

  Oil producers have for years touted capturing carbon before it goes into the atmosphere as a potential global warming solution, against criticism from climate experts who say it risks distracting from the urgent goal of slashing fossil-fuel pollution.

  With little investment and few projects in operation around the world so far, the technology is nowhere near the scale needed to make a difference to global emissions.

  

  People attend the United Arab Emirates Climate Tech Forum in Abu Dhabi on May 10.

  Photo: AFP

  Now, major players from Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) to the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) say that is about to change, as the UAE hosts climate negotiations this year with a message of cutting emissions rather than fossil fuels.

  “For the industry and for countries as well to achieve net zero by 2050, I don’t see us achieving this without embracing carbon capture,” ADNOC executive director of low-carbon solutions Musabbeh al-Kaabi said.

  “I would love to see more wind and solar energy, but to be practical and transparent, it’s not going to solve the problem,” al-Kaabi said.

  Carbon capture was a hot topic at a recent climate tech conference in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, home of ADNOC.

  Start-ups displayed their advances in carbon capture and storage (CCS), which removes carbon dioxide as it is pumped from power plants and heavy industry.

  There were also firms presenting their plans for direct air capture, a newer technology that extracts carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere.

  The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says the existing fossil-fuel infrastructure — without the use of carbon capture — would push the world beyond the Paris deal’s safer global warming limit of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

  The debate between whether to primarily target fossil fuels or emissions is shaping up as a key battleground at the COP28 climate talks, which would be held in UAE financial hub Dubai.

  Citing the IPCC, the COP28 president-designate Sultan al-Jaber — ADNOC’s CEO and his country’s climate envoy — last week said it was time to “get serious about carbon capture.”

  However, environmentalists are skeptical about the central role that big energy firms are seeking in climate solutions, saying they have a vested interest in maintaining fossil fuel sales.

  Julien Jreissati, program director at Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa, labeled it a “distraction.”

  However, al-Kaabi said that the oil giant’s engineering capabilities and deep pockets make them best-placed to propel climate technology.

  “The world has two options: We could leave it to the small players or have the big players accelerating this decarbonization,” al-Kaabi said.

  In 2016, ADNOC launched the region’s first commercial-scale CCS project, Al-Reyadah, which has the capacity to capture 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

  Globally, there are only about 35 commercial facilities using carbon capture utilization and storage globally, according to the IAE, which says even those planned until 2030 would capture only a fraction of the emissions needed.
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