meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

The journey towards net zero

26 October 2022

Published in partnership with

The most pressing concern in the race to net zero is the need to reduce carbon emissions. According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for 76 per cent of total global greenhouse gas emissions, of which 65 per cent is a direct result of fossil fuel and industrial processes.

Lowering CO2 output would therefore have the biggest impact on global warming.

The Middle East is central to this process. Although the region accounts for only 7 per cent of total global CO2 output, its emissions are some of the world’s highest on a per capita basis. 

In 2021, for example, per capita emissions in the Middle East were 8 tonnes, compared with 2.3 tonnes in South America, 4.1 tonnes in Asia and 5.6 tonnes in Europe. These figures exclude the environmental impact of oil and gas exports from the region. 

It is also an issue the region can no longer afford to ignore as it is particularly prone to climatic changes including reduced rainfall, heatwaves and increasingly severe weather events, such as the cyclones that have hit Oman in recent years. 

Reality bites

The subject was a key talking point at the Siemens Energy Middle East & Africa Energy Week event in June, where attendees discussed decarbonisation and the government targets – 2050 for the UAE and Oman, and 2060 for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain – set as deadlines to reach net zero. 

A startling finding from the event was the gap between perceptions and reality regarding what has been achieved so far in cutting emissions.

As part of Siemens Energy’s survey for its Middle East & Africa Energy Transition Readiness Index, when asked to quantify CO2 reductions in their country today and what they will be in 2030 compared to 2005, participants estimated that total emissions had fallen by 23 per cent on average over the past 17 years. Only one-third correctly answered that emissions had not fallen at all.

In fact, the opposite has taken place. Between 2005 and 2020, total global CO2 emissions increased by 50 per cent to almost 3.5 billion tonnes, according to the authoritative BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021.

“This year, many reports were issued of which the most important is the IPCC report,” said Mohamed Nasr, director of the Environment & Sustainable Development Department at Egypt’s Foreign Affairs Ministry and lead negotiator for Egypt at Cop27, speaking at the Energy Week.

“All [of the reports] stressed that we are not on track to keep climate change below 2 degrees, or even keep the 1.5 degrees target within reach. More work needs to be done.”

Between 2005 and 2020, total global CO2 emissions increased by 50 per cent to almost 3.5 billion tonnes

BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021

Work in progress

A second poll revealed that attendees expected emissions to fall to 39 per cent of their 2005 levels on average, a figure that is highly unlikely to be reached in just eight years. 

This is especially the case given that carbon emissions must be cut across the board. Although the region is making good progress on the development of renewable energy production, there has been much lower momentum in other areas. 

For example, cement production is estimated to account for between 7 per cent and 10 per cent of total carbon emissions, but despite this, there has been little in the way of new regulations on government cement output in the region. 

Overall, in 2021 the industrial sector directly accounted for about a quarter of total global greenhouse emissions equivalent to 9.4 gigatonnes, a rise of 193 megatonnes on the previous year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Iron, steel and cement production comprised more than half this figure.

The industry itself recognises more needs to be done and is implementing a range of policies and agreements to act co-operatively on reducing its climatic impact.

In early September for instance, the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) and international companies including Siemens Energy as a co-founder, Tata Steel, Enel Green Power, Technip Energies, Taqa and Eni launched the global Alliance for Industry Decarbonisation. The new alliance is aimed at accelerating net-zero ambitions and the decarbonisation of industrial value chains in accordance with the Paris Agreement. To date, 20 members have joined the alliance to work towards the same vision.

“Climate action needs industry leaders,” said Francesco La Camera, Irena director-general. “This Alliance stands for the growing commitment of global industry to act on decarbonisation and unlock opportunities that come with a green industrialisation through renewables and other transition-related technologies like green hydrogen.

“By standing together we send a clear signal of solidarity ahead of Cop27 and we invite new partners to join our common vision.”

Ultimately, we must remember that every tonne of CO2 we emit into the atmosphere will need to be removed

Dietmar Siersdorfer, Siemens Energy Middle East and the UAE

Renewables focus

Closer co-operation is a step in the right direction, but is just one element in a range of measures that need to be implemented. 

When ranking the energy initiatives to reach net zero as part of the Transition Readiness Index, the Energy Week participants identified three other priorities with the highest beneficial impact: accelerating the development of renewable energy projects; reinventing energy business models; and implementing energy storage solutions. 

The focus on renewables reflects the raft of utility-scale solar, hydro and wind schemes across the Middle East and Africa. In all, there are more than 500 projects planned or under way, with a total capital investment value of more than $510bn. 

But there has been less progress on the other two main priorities. Energy storage solutions have gained little traction to date in the region, although Dubai’s innovative 250MW pumped hydro energy storage project in Hatta could become a template for others to follow when it comes to grid-connected storage capacity. 

Nonetheless, with grids operated by centralised state utilities and renewable projects at a stage where they support conventional energy production rather than replace it, there is still some way to go before storage systems become more widespread.

For now, the principal opportunity for energy storage systems is for captive use at off-grid demand centres – for example, at Saudi Arabia’s gigaprojects along the Red Sea coast, such as the Red Sea Project and Neom. Entirely dependent on renewable energy production, the projects may require stored energy when weather conditions are unfavourable or during periods of peak demand. 

Diversifying the energy business model is unsurprisingly a key priority given the region’s reliance on hydrocarbon exports. Over the past 18 months, the development of a hydrogen industry has emerged as the pre-eminent trend to enhance the Middle East’s position as the leading source of global energy supplies. 

Today, there are some 46 world-scale hydrogen projects across the Middle East and Africa worth well in excess of $50bn. Although only two are under construction, the hydrogen industry is expected to grow massively in the region over the next decade.

This is just as well as time is fast running out if the world is to avoid a climatic emergency. 

As Dietmar Siersdorfer, managing director of Siemens Energy Middle East and the UAE, puts it: “Ultimately, we must remember that every tonne of CO2 we emit into the atmosphere will need to be removed.”

Related reads:

Click here to visit Siemens Energy 
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10118445/main.gif

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

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • Israeli offensive leaves Beirut in limbo

    5 June 2026

     

    Lebanon is being held in economic and political limbo by Israel’s open-ended offensive in the south, which has killed more than 3,500 people since March and is characterised by strategic objectives that offer no clear end in sight.

    Political leaders in Tel Aviv are justifying the operation on the grounds of eliminating Hezbollah – a far‑fetched goal against a dispersed guerrilla organisation, as with Hamas in Gaza – while ignoring overtures from Lebanon’s leadership for a ceasefire.

    The recently formed Lebanese government, meanwhile, continues to look impotent: unable to secure its territory from Israeli incursions or Hezbollah activity, and unable to deliver on promises of stability, reform, IMF funding and reconstruction.

    Echoes of the past

    The overarching shape of Israel’s military campaign is ominously familiar, echoing the 1978, 1982, 1985 and 2006 Israeli invasions of southern Lebanon – all entailing creeping encroachment without strategic resolution.

    Since fighting resumed on 2 March 2026, Israeli forces have gradually pushed north, crossing north of the Litani for the first time since the 2006 Lebanon war and seizing Beaufort Castle above Nabatieh on 31 May.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has framed the goal as establishing a “security zone” – the same term and concept Israel used to justify the occupation of a roughly 800-square-kilometre belt of southern Lebanon from 1985 to 2000.

    That occupation was a debacle for Israel’s military and ended in unilateral withdrawal.

    Israeli analysts are already drawing the modern parallels as the cost of holding ground in southern Lebanon rises, driven by Hezbollah’s deployment of cheap fibre‑optic first‑person‑view (FPV) drones that inflict a steady drip of Israeli casualties and losses.

    As with Russia in Ukraine, Tel Aviv is being tactically embarrassed by the advent of these fibre‑optic drones, which are immune to jamming and – of particular concern to Israeli forces – are too small to be reliably detected and intercepted by conventional counter‑drone systems.

    This leap in Hezbollah’s operational threat – based on cheap technology that can be locally assembled – has sharply raised the price of maintaining a military presence in the country.

    In an attempt to exact a retaliatory price, Israel’s air strikes rose by 110% between 19-22 May and 23-26 May as Hezbollah’s drone successes accumulated, according to conflict monitor Acled. But the underlying tactical dilemma remains.

    Israeli politicians, irate at the situation, have demanded escalation and intensified strikes on civilian areas, including in Beirut  – only to face US pushback.

    Tehran as the lever

    Planned strikes on Beirut, including on 3 June, have been held off in recent weeks under pressure from Washington after Tehran made Lebanon a bargaining chip in its wider negotiations with the US, repeatedly suspending talks following Israeli escalation in the Levant country.

    Tehran has also gone further than walkouts, warning it could respond directly if Israel strikes Beirut – adding an explicit threat of retaliation to diplomatic pressure.

    With a Gulf ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz both riding on the outcome, Washington is strongly motivated to keep Israel from striking Beirut.

    In this way, Iran is one of the few powers wielding any leverage over Israel’s actions in Lebanon – even if that leverage is a source of discomfort for Lebanon’s leaders, for whom Tehran’s clout contrasts starkly with their own lack of influence.

    That protection nevertheless remains narrowly tied to the Lebanese capital, with Washington turning a blind eye to Israel’s ongoing destruction of civilian infrastructure in Lebanon’s south.

    Within the border belt that Tel Aviv has dubbed the “yellow line” – amounting to about 7% of Lebanese territory – Israeli forces have accelerated the demolition of villages since the April truce and barred residents from returning.

    More than a million people, overwhelmingly Shia from the south and the Bekaa, have been displaced since March, and UN human-rights experts have pointed to the blanket evacuation orders and levelling of housing as mirroring Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

    The Lebanese state remains trapped in inaction, partially of its own making. Beirut was initially close to indifferent to renewed strikes on Hezbollah, whose unilateral re-entry into the war it had condemned for endangering the state.

    But as the strikes have shifted methodically towards civilian areas, Beirut’s restraint satisfies no one: the domestic audience wants protection, while Israel and the US want decisive Lebanese army action against Hezbollah.

    Yet the Lebanese army – still adhering in spirit to the November 2024 ceasefire framework and loath to move seriously against Hezbollah for fear of stoking civil war – has remained aloof from the conflict.

    Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who is close to Hezbollah and maintains dialogue with the group, says it would honour a genuine ceasefire if only Washington could deliver one.

    But repeated attempts to shore up the ceasefire have remained conditional on the Lebanese army stepping up to rein in Hezbollah, while failing to guarantee an end to Israel’s destruction of civilian structures in areas it is occupying.

    On 3 June, a fourth round of US‑mediated trilateral talks produced a fresh ceasefire announcement, hailed in Washington as a step towards comprehensive peace.

    Yet its conditions – a complete halt to Hezbollah fire, the group’s withdrawal south of the Litani and Lebanese army control of undefined “pilot zones”– merely reiterate past failed protocols. The declaration was unsigned by Hezbollah and unenforceable by Beirut.

    Within hours, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the declaration, stating that any ceasefire must cover the south and begin with Israeli withdrawal, not Hezbollah’s.

    Both Israeli strikes and Hezbollah attacks have continued since the ostensible deal.

    Recovery on hold

    The economic cost to Lebanon, meanwhile, compounds by the day. The country entered 2026 already in crisis: cumulative GDP down close to 40% since 2019, the pound down 98%, public debt at 150% of GDP, and reserves as low as $11bn as of June 2025.

    The government of President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam staked its credibility on a long‑deadlocked IMF programme finally unlocking external support. The war has upended this, driving away investment and delaying reform.

    The World Bank’s November 2024 assessment – covering only the previous round of fighting, before the March resumption – placed the economic cost at $14bn and recovery needs at $11bn, figures that the current war is now inflating by the day.

    Lebanon’s Bank Audi has warned of zero growth this year if the war continues, versus a pre‑escalation projection of reconstruction‑led recovery. Tourism, historically a fifth of the economy and the engine of the 2024 rebound, has been the biggest casualty.

    Looking ahead, no reconstruction can be financed while the destruction continues, and no IMF programme can advance while the state cannot ensure stability.

    Iran’s leverage may be keeping the bombs off Beirut, but the south’s entrenchment as a war zone is only deepening – with hopes for recovery receding further with every village levelled.

    While the costly occupation is imposing a rising political price on the Israeli government that may, in time, bring it to an end, this will be little consolation for those displaced – many of whom now have no communities to return to, and homes built over decades that are gone.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17120249/main.gif
    John Bambridge
  • Morocco tenders Falit dam project

    5 June 2026

    Morocco’s Ministry of Equipment & Water has opened an international tender for the construction of the Falit dam in Figuig province.

    According to local media reports, the project has an estimated budget of MD428m ($46m), with commissioning expected between 2029 and 2030.

    The bid submission deadline is 15 July.

    The dam will be built on the Moulouya River north of Bouarfa in eastern Morocco. The roller-compacted concrete structure will be 59 metres high and have a storage capacity of 25 million cubic metres.

    The project is intended to provide drinking water supplies, support agricultural irrigation and enhance flood protection in the region.

    Figuig is one of Morocco’s driest regions. It is also vulnerable to flash floods caused by sporadic but intense rainfall events.

    Reported ministry data indicates that annual flows at the project site can reach 40.8 million cubic metres in wet years. Long-term average flows are estimated at about 10.3 million cubic metres a year.

    The dam will include a spillway and a bottom outlet equipped with a 1,500-millimetre pipe. The outlet will have a discharge capacity of 28 cubic metres a second and will allow the reservoir to be emptied within 15 days if required.

    Morocco dam infrastructure

    The Figuig region is also home to the Kheng Grou dam project, which is designed to have a storage capacity of 1.07 billion cubic metres.

    According to regional project tracker MEED Projects, the dam is on track to be completed by the end of the year.

    Morocco-headquartered Bioui Travaux is the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project, valued at $96m. 

    Another local firm Novec is acting as the main contractor on the project.

    The Falit dam tender comes as Morocco continues to invest in new dams, desalination plants and water transfer schemes to address growing pressure on water resources.

    The country currently has over $13bn-worth of dam projects under construction, the largest of which is the Ratba dam project in the province of Taounate.

    Construction is also set to begin on the $238m Bou Ahmed Dam project, covering 259 hectares, in the province of Chefchaouen. According to MEED Projects data, this was the only major dam contract awarded last year.

    The joint venture of Societe Generale des Travaux du Maroc and Stam Morocco, a subsidiary of the TGCC group, will carry out EPC works on the project.

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

    GCC looks beyond the Strait; Iraq’s reform window narrows as fiscal assumptions shatter; MEED Top 100 companies.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the June 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17120660/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • Saudi Energy commissions 2.5GW battery storage project

    5 June 2026

    Saudi Energy, formerly Saudi Electricity Company, has commissioned a major 2.5GW battery energy storage project across five regions in Saudi Arabia.

    The project, which serves power grids in Riyadh, Rabigh, Dawadmi, Jouf and Qassim, completed all grid-tied charging and discharging tests at the end of May, said Chinese supplier NR Electric in a statement.

    National Grid Saudi Arabia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Energy, awarded Saudi firm Alfanar Company and China’s BYD Energy Storage the contract to build and install five battery energy storage system (bess) facilities with a total combined installed capacity of up to 2,500MW, equivalent to a rated capacity of up to 12,500 megawatt-hours, in January 2025.

    Alfanar was appointed as the project’s engineering, procurement and construction contractor, while BYD Energy Storage was responsible for the design, supply, supervision of installation, testing and commissioning, and maintenance of the bess plants.

    The 12.5 gigawatt-hour (GWh) project is the world’s largest grid-scale energy storage deployment, requiring 2,364 system cabinets in total.

    NR Electric said it supplied the project’s grid-forming control technology and more than 2,000 power conversion system units.

    The main applications for the planned bess facilities include load shifting, black start, frequency regulation and voltage support.

    They are expected to replace part-load operation of existing power plants by charging and discharging electricity according to system load variations and primary and secondary reserves, among other potential applications.

    Shenzhen-based BYD previously announced that the five bess plants would take its total deployments in Saudi Arabia to about 15.1GWh.

    It deployed its bess products on Saudi Arabia’s first on-grid bess plant in Bisha, one of 17 projects globally with a capacity of over 1GWh that entered operations in 2024.

    > Be recognised among the best in the industry at the MEED Projects Awards 2026 …

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17120197/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • Kuwait prepares to tender refinery project deal

    5 June 2026

    State-owned downstream operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has announced that it is preparing to tender a contract to develop a gauging system for a tank farm at the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery.

    The system will replace an older, now obsolete system at the South Liquid Tank Farm.

    The contract will include engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of the new gauging system.

    KNPC is planning to invite 24 companies to participate in the bidding process.

    These are:

    • JGC Corporation (Japan)
    • Almeer Technical Services Co. (Kuwait)
    • CTCI Corporation (Taiwan)
    • Kellogg Brown & Root (US)
    • Kentz Overseas (UAE)
    • IMCO Engineering & Construction Company (Kuwait)
    • National Petroleum Construction Company (UAE)
    • Sinopec Luoyang Engineering (China)
    • Sinopec Engineering Incorporation (China)
    • Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
    • SK Ecoplant (South Korea)
    • Gulf Spic General Trading & Contracting Company (Kuwait)
    • Hyundai Engineering (South Korea)
    • Enppi (Egypt)
    • Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
    • Saipem (Italy)
    • Technip Energies (France)
    • Larsen & Toubro (India)
    • Hanwha Engineering & Construction Corporation (South Korea)
    • Sinopec Engineering Group (China)
    • Samsung E&A (South Korea)
    • Daewoo Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
    • Fluor (US)
    • Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea)

    If a company has not been included in the list and would like to participate in the tender, it can file a complaint with the chairman of Kuwait’s Higher Purchase Committee within 30 days.

    The Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery has been attacked and damaged as part of the regional war that broke out after the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February.

    Several units were shut down at Kuwait’s largest oil refinery after it was hit by drones and fires broke out in the morning of 20 March 2026.

    The refinery normally processes about 730,000 barrels of oil a day.

    Kuwait’s oil and gas sector has been severely disrupted by the ongoing regional conflict, which has led to a dramatic drop in crude exports via the Strait of Hormuz.

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

    GCC looks beyond the Strait; Iraq’s reform window narrows as fiscal assumptions shatter; MEED Top 100 companies.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the June 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17119568/main.gif
    Wil Crisp
  • Kuwait tenders downstream consultancy contract

    5 June 2026

    State-owned downstream operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has tendered a consultancy contract focused on a liquid sulphur degassing facility for four sulphur recovery units at the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery.

    This type of unit removes dissolved hydrogen sulphide and other sulphur compounds from molten sulphur before it is stored, loaded onto trucks, or exported.

    This makes the sulphur safer to handle and reduces emissions.

    A total of 21 companies have been invited to participate in the tender.

    These are:

    • Asprofos Single Member Engineering Societe Anonyme (Greece)
    • Enereco (Italy)
    • EPC Constructions India (India)
    • Engineering for the Petroleum & Process Industries (Enppi) (Egypt)
    • Gulf Spic General Trading & Contracting Company (Kuwait)
    • Heavy Engineering Industries & Shipbuilding Company (Kuwait)
    • ILF Consulting Engineers (Austria)
    • Larsen & Toubro (India)
    • Litwin PEL (UAE)
    • Mott MacDonald (UK)
    • National Petroleum Construction Company (UAE)
    • Penspen International (UK)
    • Petro6 Engineering & Construction (India)
    • Petrocil Engineers & Consultants Pvt. (India)
    • PL Engineering (India)
    • Processes Unlimited (US)
    • Tebodin (Netherlands)
    • Technip Energies France (France)
    • Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
    • Triune Energy Services (India)
    • Toyo Engineering Corporation (Japan)

    A pre-tender meeting for the project is scheduled for 8 June 2026, and the bid closing date is 25 June 2026.

    The Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery has been attacked and damaged as part of the regional war that broke out after the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February.

    Several units were shut down at Kuwait’s largest oil refinery after it was hit by drones and fires broke out in the morning of 20 March 2026.

    The refinery normally processes about 730,000 barrels of oil a day.

    Kuwait’s oil and gas sector has been severely disrupted by the ongoing regional conflict, which has led to a dramatic drop in crude exports via the Strait of Hormuz.

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

    GCC looks beyond the Strait; Iraq’s reform window narrows as fiscal assumptions shatter; MEED Top 100 companies.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the June 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17119564/main.gif
    Wil Crisp