Nathan Fradino | Reuters ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The United States and the United Arab Emirates announced Tuesday the signing of a strategic partnership that will mobilize $100 billion to develop 100 gigawatts of clean energy by 2035. The agreement, signed during the Adipec energy conference in Abu Dhabi, is entitled “Partnership for the Acceleration of Clean Energy” (PACE) and includes four main pillars: the development of innovation and supply chain of clean energy, management of carbon and methane emissions , nuclear power , and industrial and transport decarbonisation. “The cooperation is part of the close friendship between the UAE and the United States of America” and “reaffirms the commitment of both sides to work to strengthen energy security and advance progress on climate action,” according to UAE government announcement published. by state news agency WAM. The White House hailed the new partnership as a major achievement for President Joe Biden’s climate agenda. “Today President Biden again demonstrated his deep commitment to securing a global clean energy future and long-term energy security as the United States and the United Arab Emirates announced a strong partnership to ensure a rapid and smooth transition to clean energy and away from depleting fossil fuels,” the White House statement said. The two countries will create an “expert team” to “identify priority projects, remove potential obstacles and measure PACE’s progress towards its goal of catalyzing $100 billion in financing, investment and other support and developing globally 100 gigawatts of clean energy. ” he said. The UAE is a major oil exporter, but has invested heavily in developing non-fossil fuel energy sources, including building the world’s largest solar power plant and the Arab world’s first nuclear power plant. It plans to host the COP 28 climate summit in 2023. The two countries’ ambitious plan comes at a time of rising demand and shrinking global oil supply, as years of underinvestment in fossil fuels and months of Russia’s war in Europe have brought tight supply and high prices for consumers. At the same conference where PACE was signed into action, CEOs of oil and gas companies warned of the dangers of limiting fossil fuel production to prevent climate change. While in recent years there would have been strong calls for more investment in renewable energy and an acceleration of the transition away from hydrocarbons — a continuing pillar of the Biden administration’s goals — more leaders are now stressing the need to revive oil and gas production ahead of what could to be a very difficult winter for Europe and other parts of the world that face shortages of these commodities. Oil and gas prices have hit multi-year, and in some cases, record highs in the past year amid supply issues and geopolitical conflicts.
“Maximum energy, minimum emissions”
Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), said in a speech at the Adipec conference on Monday that “energy is everyone’s top priority” today as “a perfect storm” hits the global energy landscape. He said chronic underinvestment in oil and gas production has exacerbated the situation. “If we zeroed out investment in hydrocarbons, due to natural decline, we would lose 5 million barrels of oil a day every year from current supplies. That would make the shocks we’ve experienced this year seem like a small shock,” said Al Jaber. emphasizing the importance of energy security. He stressed the need for both traditional energy investment and reducing carbon emissions, arguing that they are not mutually exclusive and saying “the world needs maximum energy, minimum emissions”. “It’s not oil and gas, not solar, not wind or nuclear, not hydrogen. It’s oil and gas and solar, and wind and nuclear and hydrogen,” Al Jaber said. “It’s all of the above, plus clean energy that has yet to be discovered, commercialized and harnessed.” However, many policymakers and institutions strongly denounce the use of fossil fuels, warning that the far greater crisis is that of climate change. In June, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an end to fossil fuel funding and called any new funding for exploration “delusional”. However, global economic forces do not seem favorable to this goal. According to a recent report by UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, cross-border investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation is expected to decline this year amid a broader reduction in investment plans. And the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, on Monday raised its medium- and long-term forecasts for crude demand and said $12.1 trillion in investment was needed to meet it. OPEC’s outlook still differs from that of some other bodies, such as the International Energy Agency, which sees oil demand peaking sometime in the middle of the next decade as nations continue the push to transition away from fossil fuels.
