Arab countries and how to implement the Paris climate agreement

The governments and peoples of Arab countries have great responsibilities in implementing the commitments to implement the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement over the next three decades, especially under the difficult conditions that most are facing. Arab countries. There are international resolutions that advance the change of the energy age. And perhaps more important than these decisions, there is industrial activity which is in full swing in large international companies. New industries are pushing to replace many old infrastructure with new systems. There is a new era of energy and there is a specific date for the world to coexist with the era of sustainable energy, starting with the second half of this century.

Naturally, this process of energy transformation will have significant impacts on Arab societies and economies, whether for oil-exporting countries or others. The expected repercussions lie in the area of ​​economic infrastructure, notably how electricity is produced and how to obtain the energy itself, in addition to anticipating major changes in transport, starting with the use of electricity. electric or hybrid cars on the one hand, and the use of modern and electric public transport, including carbon dioxide-free aviation fuel, high-speed electric trains and the possibility of using cars without driver.

By 2050, countries will be forced to stop using their emitting petroleum-based power plants and build new power plants that rely on sustainable energies from wind and sun. The main focus in most of these variants will be the lithium electric battery. For countries, these variables require billions if not billions of dollars of investment in alternative industries. It will either be a question of financing themselves from the countries themselves, which amounts to reducing the funds allocated to social and educational development, or of trying to borrow from local financial institutions, if the necessary funds are at their disposal. or to resort to regional and international development funds to obtain loans or to contribute to the capital of new projects.

The timetable for starting new projects will depend on the situation of each country, depending on its priorities, economic performance and political stability. Indeed, most of the GCC countries have started the required gradual transformation.

Some Arab national oil companies have started to work on two important avenues: First – reducing carbon emissions through the collection and storage of carbon dioxide associated with the oil produced. Second: start a local hydrogen industry, as emission-free hydrogen is expected to be the new energy fuel in the future.

The reasons for these two steps lie in the need to improve environmental conditions and to work towards the creation of a fuel industry for the new era. And then, the production of hydrogen, a zero emission fuel. With the start of this path, one can expect continued development of technologies in the coming period, as well as experimentation with mobile phone and electric battery.

The first objective is to collect and isolate carbon dioxide from several sources such as the combustion of fossil fuels to prevent it from escaping into the atmosphere and contributing to global warming, and to bury it at the place in the ground after separating the gas and sequestering it in tanks or at depth. deep-water geological formations or wells. Carbon dioxide capture and storage technology is a new technology that was first successfully tested commercially in Germany in 2000. Expectations are still mixed as to the impact of storing carbon dioxide for long periods of time. periods on the high seas for fear of negative effects. There is also a technology under development to recycle carbon dioxide in order to stop the negative impact of these emissions in the short to medium term.

The second objective is the production of hydrogen. For decades, hydrogen has been tempting to scientists because it contains no carbon and the only byproduct of its combustion is water. According to Scientific American, the traditional process of producing hydrogen, which involves exposing fossil fuels to steam, is far from carbon-free. The hydrogen produced in this way is called gray hydrogen, and if carbon dioxide is isolated from it, it is called blue hydrogen. There is also green hydrogen that differs from it, as it is produced by electrolysis using machines that analyze water for hydrogen and oxygen, without any by-products. Previously, electrolysis required a large amount of electrical energy, which made the production of hydrogen in this way unreasonable.

But the situation has changed now, due to the presence of a surplus of renewable electricity in the electricity distribution networks. Instead of storing the surplus electricity in large groups of batteries, it can be used in the process of electrolysis of water, then the electricity is stored as hydrogen. As for the second reason, according to “Scientific American”, it is due to the increased efficiency of electrolysis machines.

Arab national oil companies, especially those in politically stable countries with adequate financial capacity, are currently working on such programs. But the problem lies with the unstable Arab countries, which are trying to end foreign interference in their internal affairs, and their ranks have again collapsed after corruption plagued them. National companies in these countries are continuing their traditional oil production without entering the modern industries that will serve world markets by the middle of the century.

* City of Asharq Al-Awsat