UAE’s carbon capture project commendable

The UAE is stepping up use of innovative technologies to bring about reduction in its carbon footprint. On Saturday, it started a carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) project that will take out 800,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. The technology will not just capture CO2, but also
enhance oil recovery and liberate gas.
This facility is one of the only 22 CCUS plants in the world. It is the first-of-its-kind to capture CO2 from an oil and steel plant.
There are three stages in which the project will work. Carbon dioxide will first be captured on the Emirates Steel manufacturing site. It will then be compressed and hydrated. After this, the gas would travel through a 43-km underground pipeline for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) injection into ADNOC’s NEB and Bab onshore oilfields.
The project manifests that clean technology can be blended with traditional energy to improve efficiency of resources and maximize their use. Experts believe that the CCUS technology will go a long way in freeing up more natural gas for electricity generation, water desalination and other industrial uses.
His Excellency Dr Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and
Environment, has rightly noted, “Investment in carbon capture, utilization and storage technology is an investment in helping the world mitigate the impacts of climate change.” The project reflects the UAE’s commitment to adopt measures that protect the environment from greenhouse gases. Sequestering carbon dioxide is the first step towards reducing the climate change impact. The $122 million CCUS project in Abu Dhabi will take off around 170,000 cars from the street, in terms of CO2 emissions. That’s an extraordinary feat.
Close on the heels of the project’s launch, ten of the world’s biggest oil companies expressed their intention to pump in an average of $100 million annually over the next 10 years in low-carbon technologies. The firms launched the Climate Investments Fund which will invest in technologies to slash CO2 and also help in increase in gas use. They vowed to use a huge chunk of the $100 million investment for fast-tracking CCUS in gas-fired power plants.
A lower carbon economy as well as adapting to global warming and climate change is the need of the hour. The transition to clean technologies has to be
expedited as we enter a new climate change era where CO2 in the atmosphere averages 400 parts per million (ppm).
The record high greenhouse gas levels call for urgency. The UAE is heeding to the warning and taking initiatives to apply technologies that can ensure energy utilization and efficiency. The UAE’s CCUS project will strengthen the market for clean technology. It will spur private sector to invest in clean practices which can reduce carbon emissions. The world needs responsible energy production through private and public partnership than ever before.
As the country is on course to meet the sustainability goals of Vision 2021,
harnessing clean methods to check greenhouse gases and expanding the low-
carbon power generation industry would decide the future energy landscape. The steps taken today in containing pollution will make our earth a more liveable place for posterity. After all, we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.