The United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreed to invest $100 billion to generate 100 gigawatts of clean energy.
At the Adipec energy conference in Abu Dhabi, the parties certified the “Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy” (PACE). It consists of four main pillars: creating clean energy innovation and supply chains, controlling carbon and methane emissions. It also includes nuclear energy, and decarbonizing the industrial and transportation sectors.
“The cooperation comes within the framework of the close friendship between the UAE and the United States of America (and) affirms the commitment of both sides to work to enhance energy security and advance progress in climate action,” said the UAE government.
“Today, President Biden again demonstrated his deep commitment to ensuring a global clean energy future and long-term energy security. And the United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced a robust partnership to ensure the swift and smooth transition toward clean energy and away from unabated fossil fuels,” the White House stated.
The agreement, in the gaze of the American government, marks another achievement in the nation’s climate change strategy. By 2035, all of the nations must have finished the plan. To oversee the operations covered by the agreement, the nations will then choose an expert group.
The group’s central role is to “identify priority projects, remove potential hurdles. It also measures PACE’s progress in achieving its goal of catalyzing $100 billion in the financing, investment, and other support and deploying globally 100 gigawatts of clean energy.”
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A paramount concern for UAE
The UAE exports oil in enormous quantities. However, the UAE produces oil from sources other than fossil fuels, in contrast to many other countries that rely on them. Additionally, the nation is home to the largest solar power plant on a single site worldwide. The UAE will serve as the host country for COP 28 in 2023.
According to Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the company aims to produce the most energy while emitting the fewest carbon.
“If we zero out hydrocarbon investment due to natural decline, we would lose 5 million barrels per day of oil each year from current supplies. This would make the shocks we have experienced this year feel like a minor tremor,” he added.
“It is not oil and gas, or solar, not wind or nuclear, or hydrogen. So it is oil and gas and solar, and wind and nuclear, and hydrogen. It is all of the above, plus the clean energies yet to be discovered, commercialized and deployed,” the CEO explained.
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Ending fossil fuel
Politicians criticize fossil fuels and warn that misusing them could have disastrous consequences. According to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, countries should stop promoting and making investments in the production of energy using fossil fuels. He continued by saying that fossil fuel exploration should be highly discouraged.
The decrease in investments in non-fossil fuel-related productions, however, is a concern. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development also predicted a fall in climate change adaptation and mitigation investments.
