meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

Working towards a common energy-transition goal

28 November 2022

Published in partnership with

In the end, it went right to the wire. Just as it looked like the UN’s 27th Conference of the Parties (Cop27) would conclude without an accord, the weary delegates announced that they had reached a landmark agreement on setting up a fund to help compensate poorer nations for the economic and social destruction caused by climate change. 

The statement, two days after the Sharm el-Sheikh summit’s original 18 November end date, was a culmination of some 30 years of negotiations between developed economies and developing nations. The latter had long argued that the damage they have experienced from global warming should be paid for by richer countries responsible for the crisis in the first place.

Although far from perfect, the global ‘loss and damage’ fund was hailed as an important and symbolic step towards hitting the agreed target of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels by 2030. It also marked the continuing engagement and collaboration by governments across the globe.

“We rose to the occasion,” said Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and president of Cop27 Sameh Shoukry. 

“We worked around the clock, day and night, but united in working for one gain, one higher purpose, one common goal. In the end, we delivered. We listened to the calls of anguish and despair.”

Private sector involvement

While Cop27 has been and will continue to be a policy-setting mechanism negotiated at the highest level, companies played a critical role during the conference. 

Firms representing a broad range of sectors, including Vodafone, Microsoft, Boston Consulting Group and Bloomberg, partnered with the event, and many more participated in the main conference and exhibition areas. 

Ultimately, governments understand that the private sector will lead the drive towards net zero. Without corporates worldwide investing in clean energy projects and technology, there is little hope that targets will be reached.

Five consistency points

A key supporter of Cop27 was Siemens Energy. Sharing its expertise through panels covering subjects as varied as the Mediterranean’s North-South Energy Partnership, improving power access in Africa by unlocking its green hydrogen potential, and overcoming the challenges of decarbonisation, the energy technology company played a pivotal role in discussions and thought leadership.

It also participated in the world leader’s summit at a roundtable discussing green hydrogen, reinforcing its positioning of energy transition at the heart of its strategy. 

Before the Sharm el-Sheikh conference, Siemens Energy president and CEO Christian Bruch outlined five points of consistency that his company considers to be unifying elements in the decarbonisation drive.

The first is the acceleration of renewables. Replacing conventional power generation systems with solar, wind, hydro and other forms of renewable energy is essential to reduce greenhouse emissions.

Despite a considerable increase in the overall share of renewables in the past three years on the back of ever-lowering costs and more efficient technology, more must still be done.

For example, the US needs to triple its share of renewable energy as a proportion of the energy mix by 2050 for the energy transition to succeed. The Asia-Pacific region, meanwhile, will have to increase this figure fourfold. 

Regional targets

In the Middle East, every country has now set ambitious targets to increase renewable energy. The likes of Saudi Arabia, Morocco and the UAE are aiming for renewables to account for up to 50 per cent of total production by 2030. To reach these objectives, almost all new power generation projects come in the form of renewables.

However, the impact of greener electricity production could be somewhat offset by continuing demand growth caused by an increasing global population and economic growth. 

In this context, the second point is the requirement for improved energy conservation measures, such as policies to incentivise the electrification of industry and transport. 

Regionally, the industrial electrification of energy-intensive industries is an optimal opportunity to reduce harmful emissions by harnessing electric boilers and/or electricity-based fuels. Future large-scale blue and green hydrogen production will also have a role to play in industrial processes.

Siemens Energy’s third point of consistency is improving electrical efficiency. The increase in renewable energy capacity and the growth in power capacity, in general, require significant investment in transmission and distribution networks. 

This is particularly important in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, where almost 25 per cent of the population has little to no access to electricity. 

The fourth point covers the requirement to use existing conventional power infrastructure to help bridge the gap between the fossil-fuelled economies of today and the net zero of tomorrow. 

Progress cannot be made in one step alone and requires a gradual transition. In the meantime, existing thermal plants can employ measures such as combined-cycle technology and carbon capture to make them as efficient and environmentally friendly as possible.

The energy transition is the biggest investment programme since the dawn of industrialisation. If governments, business and society work together, energy transition is a massive opportunity

Christian Bruch, Siemens Energy president and CEO

Mineral production

Finally, to achieve all of this, it is necessary to improve supply chains and increase the production of necessary minerals and rare earth metals required in net-zero technologies, such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and chromium. 

Bruch gives the example of a typical electric car, which requires six times more mineral inputs than one powered by an internal combustion engine. He also cites onshore wind plants, which need nine times more than a gas-fired power plant. 

If mineral production is not increased and geographically diversified, there is a risk of future supply bottlenecks.

In the Middle East, a good illustration of this is the potential future supply gap for electrolyser systems, and the anodes and cathodes typically made from metals such as zinc, nickel and lithium. 

MEED estimates that about 75GW of electrolyser production capacity will be required by 2030 to meet the demand for the raft of planned green hydrogen plants in the region alone, compared with a total global output capacity of just 8GW today.

Industrial decarbonisation alliance

All five consistency points make salient arguments. However, they can only be achieved with close cooperation between the private and public sectors. While the former can spearhead and implement the decarbonisation drive, the latter can provide the regulations and incentives to encourage these initiatives. 

The newly formed Alliance for Industry Decarbonization initiated by Siemens Energy and coordinated and facilitated by the Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an example of greater collaboration between the public and private sectors. 

The 28-member alliance – which encompasses a range of global energy, renewable, consulting and manufacturing companies – met for the first time during Cop27 to outline its joint vision and implementation plan. Its strategy focuses on six pillars and enablers that tie into the points of consistency: renewables, green hydrogen, bioenergy with carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), heat process optimisation, human capital and finance.

Only through this kind of stakeholder dialogue can the immense and existential challenges posed by global warming be overcome. Governments or companies acting in isolation will only achieve so much on their own. The points of consistency must be considered as a whole and in unison if the world’s climate objectives are to succeed.

As Bruch says: “The energy transition is the biggest investment programme since the dawn of industrialisation. If governments, business and society work together, energy transition is a massive opportunity. There is no excuse for waiting any longer.”

Related reads:

Click here to visit Siemens Energy 
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10387284/main.gif
MEED Editorial

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • Brent hits $112 a barrel following Saudi oil field attack

    22 October 2026

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Oil prices climbed more than 3% on 22 October after a drone targeting Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field development killed two people and injured two others a day earlier, adding to concerns over energy supplies as attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure intensified.

    Global benchmark Brent crude hit $112.30 in early trading on 22 October, but later pared gains and was trading at $111.52 a barrel as of 11am GST.

    Three residents and a Saudi citizen were killed in two separate incidents in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province on 21 October, authorities said, as attacks on the kingdom accelerated following an escalation of hostilities with the Iran-backed Houthi group in neighbouring Yemen.

    Overnight, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen announced that it had intercepted and destroyed four drones in the Eastern Province.

    Saudi air defences intercepted a drone attempting to target a processing facility at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field development on the morning of 21 October, the Saudi Ministry of Energy said.

    The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) carried a statement quoting an energy ministry official as saying the attempted attack resulted in the deaths of two residents – a Filipino and a Nepali – and injuries to two others – an Indian and a Pakistani – after debris fell due to the interception.

    Following the interception, a fire broke out in a vehicle belonging to a contractor at the Shaybah oil field, outside the facility’s perimeter, with no impact on operations.

    Dammam airport attack

    Separately, a Houthi attack on King Fahd International airport in Dammam on the evening of 21 October killed an Indian resident and a Saudi citizen.

    Eight people were also injured in the attack, including a Saudi national, a Nepali, and two nationals each from India, Yemen and Bangladesh. Injuries ranged from minor to critical, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca) said the next day.

    “The attack also caused property damage, the extent of which is currently being assessed. Further updates will be provided,” Gaca said, adding that operations had since resumed at Dammam airport.

    Saudi Arabia has come under sustained attack from the Iran-aligned Houthi rebel group in October, including strikes on Riyadh’s international airport in what authorities described as the kingdom’s deadliest incidents in years, as the war with the group escalates.

    The Houthi militias also struck an administrative building at Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran, in the Eastern Province, on 13 October, resulting in a limited fire.

    The Houthi rebels opened a new front in the regional war between Iran and the US in mid-July, when they breached a four-year truce with Saudi Arabia in Yemen’s civil war, which began in 2014, and started attacking Saudi vessels and Aramco energy assets along the Red Sea, including repeated strikes on the Jizan refinery.

    The 1,200-kilometre East-West pipeline operated by Aramco was also hit by Houthi missiles in September, and once directly by Iran in April.

    The East-West pipeline transports crude from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province oil fields to the Red Sea port city of Yanbu on the kingdom’s west coast. It has a pumping capacity of 7 million barrels a day.

    Saudi Arabia relies heavily on the East-West pipeline to bypass the volatile Strait of Hormuz maritime chokepoint and ship crude from its Red Sea coast. Riyadh has increasingly used the line to route exports away from Hormuz since the US-Iran conflict began on 28 February – a tactical advantage most of its Gulf neighbours lack.

    Aramco resumed crude exports via the pipeline at the start of October.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/20841984/main.jpg
    Indrajit Sen
  • Riyadh awards $301m Sheikh Jaber Road contract

    22 October 2026

     

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) has awarded an estimated SR1.13bn ($301m) contract to local firm Alomaier Trading & Contracting Company to upgrade a section of Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Road in the capital.

    The project covers the construction of an urban road about 3 kilometres (km) long, with a right-of-way width of about 120 metres.

    The scope of work includes the delivery of three interchanges featuring post-tensioned, voided-slab concrete bridges; a cut-and-cover tunnel; and three box culverts designated IC02, IC03 and IC04.

    The contract also encompasses pumping and lifting stations, stormwater drainage and irrigation networks, earthworks, asphalt paving, roadway lighting, power distribution systems, mechanically stabilised earth retaining walls and landscaping works.

    The award forms part of RCRC’s wider programme to upgrade Riyadh’s arterial road network, decongest critical bottlenecks and expand transportation capacity in the city ahead of Expo 2030 and the 2034 Fifa World Cup.

    The contract award follows RCRC’s appointment in May of a joint venture of Riyadh-based Al-Rashid Trading & Contracting Company and Turkiye’s IC Ictas for an estimated SR5bn ($1.3bn) contract to construct another section of Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah Road.

    That project covers 12km from Khurais Road to Al-Thumama Road and is a component of Riyadh’s Second Eastern Ring Road scheme.

    Alomaier Trading & Contracting Company has secured several contracts in recent months.

    In August, Saudi Arabian Railways awarded the contractor an estimated SR4bn-plus ($1.1bn) contract to add a second track to the first section of the existing phosphate railway in the kingdom’s Eastern Province.

    The railway package covers about 100km between AZ1/Nariyah Yard and Ras Al-Khair. Works include track doubling, alignment modifications, utility bridges, culvert widening, hydrological structures, conversion of the AZ1 siding into a mainline track, and enabling works for signalling and telecommunications systems.

    READ THE OCTOBER 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Industry and logistics drive development at Neom; Saudi Arabia’s investment priorities realign amid conflict; MEED’s 2026 power developer ranking.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the October 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/20833960/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal
  • Dewa International signs energy and infrastructure MoUs

    22 October 2026

    Dubai Electricity & Water Authority’s (Dewa) new development arm, Dewa International, has signed four memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with international partners to explore investment and project development opportunities in the energy, water and infrastructure sectors.

    The agreements, signed during Dubai’s Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition (Wetex 2026), follow the launch of the wholly owned subsidiary in June, as reported by MEED.

    At the time, the utility said the arm would be used to export Dubai’s energy and water infrastructure model, with a focus on developing conventional and clean energy projects for global markets.

    At Wetex, Dewa International signed an MoU with France’s EDF Power Solutions to explore potential joint participation in solar, wind, battery energy storage and pumped-storage hydropower projects.

    A separate agreement with China Energy International Group explores the company’s potential role as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner for major energy, water and infrastructure projects. The MoU also covers cooperation in project development and EPC services.

    A further agreement with UK-based Capital Dynamics focuses on potential joint investments in operational clean energy assets in Europe. The parties will also explore establishing an investment vehicle for future clean energy infrastructure investments.

    Dewa International also signed a fourth agreement with Mumbai-Headquartered Tata Consultancy Services, exploring the company’s potential role as a technical consultancy partner. The scope covers technology strategy, information technology and operational technology integration, and asset performance management solutions.

    Dewa currently has almost $7bn-worth of power and water projects under execution across the UAE, according to regional projects tracker MEED Projects.

    Its flagship Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park is the largest single-site solar park in the world. The utility is currently advancing the project’s seventh phase, with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) recently submitting the lowest bid for the project, as exclusively reported by MEED.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/20828111/main0128.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies to develop Lebanon solar plant

    22 October 2026

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    State-owned QatarEnergy and France’s TotalEnergies have agreed to jointly develop a solar power plant in Lebanon.

    The agreement was announced on 16 October during the Qatari prime minister’s official visit to Beirut, where he held a joint press conference with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

    According to a statement published by the Lebanese Prime Minister's Office, the plant will be an initial project under a broader framework for energy cooperation between Qatar and Lebanon. Its capacity, location, investment value and implementation schedule have yet to be disclosed.

    Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani said: “The aim is to develop a major investment project that benefits the Lebanese economy, as well as the Qatari companies and entities participating in it.”

    Separately, Salam said the Lebanese and Qatari governments were “close to reaching an agreement” to rehabilitate, develop and modernise Lebanon’s electricity-generation infrastructure.

    The proposed project would cover the country’s various electricity-generation sources and associated infrastructure, aiming to improve the reliability of electricity supplies and reduce costs.

    The project would use a build, operate and transfer model, under which Qatari entities would finance, implement and operate the facilities without upfront investment costs for the Lebanese treasury, Salam said.

    Salam also said the proposal was being prepared with support from the International Finance Corporation, and that he hoped to present it to the Lebanese government soon.

    The wider initiative is intended to address Lebanon’s longstanding electricity-generation shortfall and overcome financing constraints that have delayed infrastructure projects in the sector.

    As MEED previously reported, the Lebanese government continues to advance broader reforms to the country’s electricity sector.

    In August, Lebanon’s Electricity Regulatory Authority invited private sector companies to submit expressions of interest (EoIs) for several upcoming power-generation projects.

    The EoIs cover up to five grid-connected solar photovoltaic projects with a combined installed capacity of 350 megawatts-peak. The projects are also expected to include battery energy storage systems with a combined capacity of 1,000 megawatt-hours. 

    The regulator is also seeking proposals for distributed dual-fired thermal power plants with net capacities of 20MW-100MW.

    READ THE OCTOBER 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Industry and logistics drive development at Neom; Saudi Arabia’s investment priorities realign amid conflict; MEED’s 2026 power developer ranking.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the October 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/20827458/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • PIF developer moves Mecca residential tower deadline

    22 October 2026

     

    Rua Al-Haram Al-Makki has extended the bid submission deadline for the main construction package for the Ajyad residential tower, a 365-metre high-rise development in Mecca’s central area, close to the Grand Mosque.

    The new bid submission deadline is the end of November.

    Rua Al-Haram Al-Makki tendered the contract in July, with an initial bid submission deadline of 30 September, as MEED reported.

    The project team includes US-based Marriott International as residential operator, Hanmi Global Saudi as project management consultant, Saudi Diyar Consultants as construction supervision consultant, and PLP Architecture as lead design consultant and construction-stage design guardian.

    The tower will rise 84 floors with four basement levels. It will comprise a total of 212 units, including 82 three-bedroom apartments, 85 four-bedroom units, 29 penthouses and 16 duplex villas.

    The scheme has a gross floor area of 209,231 square metres (sq m) and a built-up area of 242,976 sq m.

    The site is currently being cleared by a demolition contractor, with the existing mat foundation and retaining walls to be handed over to the main contractor, who will build the new superstructure on the retained raft.

    Rua Al-Haram Al-Makki Company was established in October 2017 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi sovereign wealth vehicle the Public Investment Fund.

    READ THE OCTOBER 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Industry and logistics drive development at Neom; Saudi Arabia’s investment priorities realign amid conflict; MEED’s 2026 power developer ranking.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the October 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/20826527/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal