GCC urged to invest in R&D to reduce carbon footprint – GCC carbon footprint - Arhive

An energy expert has called for policies and actions that promote more use of gas for power in the GCC countries and more investment in R&D for cleaner technologies to lower the carbon footprint in the region.
Dr Adnan Shihab-Eldin, former acting secretary-general and director of research at Opec has also stressed the need for enhanced private sector participation in power generation.
He suggested introduction of energy efficiency and conservation measures in buildings and transportation sectors; speeding up of measures to improve the efficiency of electricity and water production; and expediting the promotion of renewables to accelerate their deployment, in particular solar and including rooftop Photovoltaic (RTPV) wherever possible.
In his article entitled ‘The GCC transition to sustainable development under a low oil price’ in the ‘Energy Elders – outlook 2020+’ published by the Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Foundation for Energy & Sustainable Development, Dr Adnan said the GCC should invest in Research & Development (R&D) for cleaner technologies to lower the carbon footprint from the consumption of oil and gas, including Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
In parallel, the GCC must continue to pursue policies and measures to maintain leadership of and influence on other oil and gas exporters, and the sector in general.
The GCC must in particularly avoid repeating the mistakes made by Opec over the last two decades – of allowing oil prices to rise sharply and unsustainably. This has resulted in strong demand destruction, the rise of other low cost oil supply – mainly shale from the USA – and in general, made possible the speeding up of the development and deployment of alternative energy technologies, even in places where economics and physics would have otherwise constituted an insurmountable obstacle.
Such policies and measures would include, amongst others, making sufficient and timely investment to ensure that GCC oil and gas exporters maintain their historical role as a reliable supplier of crude to the global market, while retaining ample spare capacity to prevent sharp rises in the oil price, which would result in further demand destruction and faster development and deployment of alternative energy supply technologies. The maintenance of moderate price levels would also limit expansion of higher cost oil and slow down technology development to bring new oil to market.
Investment should also cover CCS R&D to make the region’s crude oil more attractive to net importing countries. In fact, he said, GCC countries should take a leading global role in developing and deploying CCS technologies – they have the most to gain if they do and the most to lose if they don’t.
Dr Adnan noted GCC economies remain highly dependent on oil and gas revenues. Despite more than half a century of robust economic growth, plans and polices to diversify away from over-dependence on oil have, for the most part, not been successful.
The recent sharp drop in oil prices is structural and long lasting and, therefore, is compounding the critical challenges they face going forward in search of a feasible path for continued growth and sustainability, he said.

Dr Shihab-Eldin suggests introduction of energy efficiency and conservation measures in buildings and transportation sectors; speeding up of measures to improve the efficiency of electricity and water production; and expediting the promotion of renewables to accelerate their deployment, in particular solar and including rooftop Photovoltaic wherever possible.

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