The charge towards greener energy starts with collaboration

Worsening climate change has spurred global action to transform the way we produce and consume energy. Investment in new power generation is expected to be US $13.3tn before 2050, with 83 percent going to zero-emissions technologies, increasing jobs in the sector fourfold to 42 million globally by 2050.  The economic prize is clear. Clean growth presents the most significant economic growth opportunity of the 21st century. 

We will make the most of the UK’s COP26 presidency in November to work globally to ensure business, regions and investors commit to change through initiatives such as the Race to Zero campaign. The global transition to clean power needs to progress at least four times faster than at present. The world has spent trillions of dollars over the last ten years trying to decarbonise,  but emissions in the global power sector are still rising, driven by increased demand in emerging economies.    

The UK has pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and in April this year, we announced our sixth Carbon Budget committing by law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 78 percent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels, the fastest fall in greenhouse gas emissions of any major economy. This will take the UK more than three-quarters of the way to net zero by 2050, making it one of the most ambitious climate targets in the world.  

So far, we have reduced our emissions quicker than any other country in the G20, drawing on the depth and breadth of UK low-carbon knowledge and expertise to create new economic opportunities. Since 1990, the UK’s economy has grown by two thirds while emissions have fallen by over 40 percent, demonstrating that economic growth goes hand in hand with protecting the environment. The decarbonisation of the UK’s energy mix has been driven by forward-thinking policy, stimulating private investment in clean technology, and by a skilled workforce willing to innovate to capture value from policy incentives and driven to solve imminent net zero challenges.  

We will do great things as a nation, but we can achieve even more through cross-border partnerships. Working together, countries can develop zero emission solutions faster, increase economies of scale, and bring down costs more quickly. And we know that it is businesses, even more than governments, that will be the main drivers behind this great global transition.  

The UK's £40 million Clean Growth Fund will supercharge the private sector’s development of next generation clean, low-carbon technologies. The Transition Export Development Guarantee (TEDG) from UK Export Finance is a new facility set up to support UK exporting companies with working capital to invest in low-carbon growth markets including renewables, hydrogen, and decarbonisation. Wood became the first company to access the guarantee, securing a US $600m/£430m loan that will enable the company to capitalise on opportunities emerging as the energy transition gathers further pace.  

Here in the Middle East, innovations from the UK are helping to accelerate the region’s shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, such as green hydrogen, waste-to-energy, and solar. 

Qatar has established a 10-year, US $70mn Qatar Carbonate and Carbon Storage Research Centre in collaboration with Imperial College London, which aims to advance research in the feasibility of carbon capture for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and storage of CO2 in local geological formations.  

The winning car in the first ever Extreme E race in the Saudi Arabian desert in April was charged with a zero-emission hydrogen power generator, developed by UK-based AFC Energy.  AFC Energy has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2021 with Altaaqa Alternative Solutions, one of the world’s largest providers of temporary power solutions, with the intention of establishing an exclusive dealership for the distribution of AFC's fuel cell systems in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East & North Africa regions via a strategic partnership. Their new partnership presents an enormous opportunity for both companies to drive the transition to a cleaner temporary power market. 

Meanwhile, Bee’ah, a pioneer in sustainability in the Middle East, is progressing plans for the region’s first waste-to-hydrogen project in the UAE, in collaboration with British firm Chinook Sciences. The project includes a green hydrogen generation plant and hydrogen vehicle fuelling station. Chinook’s gasification and pyrolysis technology will break down hydrocarbons from waste through advanced thermal treatment to release and recover green hydrogen. When the green hydrogen is charged into vehicles, it emits only water and no carbon emissions. 

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Wood recently completed its role as owner’s engineer on Oman Shell’s first utility-scale, photovoltaic (PV) solar project in the Middle East, designed to cut emissions from industrial activities. The development, consisting of more than 80,000 solar panels in northern Oman, will supply renewable electricity to a large ferrochrome production facility, displacing the equivalent gas-fired power generation taken from the grid and saving more than 25,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.  

In fact, energy from solar and wind is already cheaper than coal power in two thirds of the world – and these energy sources are predicted to undercut commissioned coal and gas almost everywhere by 2030. Such projects are live here in the Gulf as well in Australia, China, and Chile, where they will challenge the existing fleet of fossil fuel power plants. 

As the world’s attention turns to Glasgow in November, this is the moment for us all to redouble our efforts to achieve the goals set out in the Paris Agreement and act with renewed urgency to tackle the causes and the impacts of climate change upon our planet.  Now is the time for us to work ever more closely together, nations and businesses alike, to help shape a greener, cleaner and more prosperous future.