meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

Cop28 focuses energy transition spotlight on UAE

28 February 2023

 

Global climate negotiators, civil society groups, entrepreneurs and journalists will descend on Dubai’s Expo City in November for the 28th Conference of the Parties (Cop28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, putting the UAE at the centre and in charge of the annual climate talks.

UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has said Cop28 is the most important event the UAE will host in 2023. It is hard to argue otherwise.

Cop28 is expected to follow through with the implementation of a breakthrough loss-and-damage fund to help the most vulnerable countries address climate change, which was included for the first time in a Cop agreement last year.

It will conclude the first global stocktake, an assessment of the progress each country has made against the goals of the Paris Agreement, signed in 2016 by 195 nations, with the aim of keeping the mean global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels.

Contrasting agendas

Under the auspices of a state whose wealth was built for the most part on oil, negotiators are expected to lock horns over the policies, technologies and funding platforms best placed to enable climate mitigation and adaptation, and to wean the world off fossil fuels.

The relevance of the UAE's leadership in this year's Cop negotiations reflects the dilemma between meeting climate targets and a world that cannot yet live without hydrocarbons

It is not the first time an Opec member will host a Cop event – Qatar and Indonesia hosted them in 2012 and 2013, respectively. However, the appointment of Abu Dhabi oil chief and UAE climate envoy Sultan al-Jaber as Cop28 president-designate caused an uproar among environment and climate advocacy groups in January.

“I thought someone from outside the conventional energy sector would have given more credibility to the event,” an independent consultant tells MEED.

Despite this, commentators have also noted the UAE’s strategic clout and potential to act as a bridge between the affluent and developed countries increasingly referred to as the global north, such as the US, EU states, Russia and Japan, and the economically challenged countries in the global south, which includes swathes of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The UAE maintains close economic and political ties with the majority of the countries in both groups, which largely have contrasting geopolitical, economic and energy profiles, as well as climate agendas.

According to Frank Wouters, director of the EU GCC Clean Energy Network and senior vice-president of Reliance Industries, the UAE, as one of the biggest donors of official development aid (ODA), can provide credibility and leadership in the effort to mobilise badly needed global capital towards climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.

For instance, at Cop15 in Denmark in 2009, developed countries committed to a collective goal of mobilising $100bn a year for climate action in developing countries by 2020. 

The goal was formalised at Cop16 in Mexico, and reiterated at Cop21 in France, with the timeline extended to 2025.

The latest available figure in 2020 stood at $83.3bn. “The reality is that this has not happened,” says Wouters. “So more can and should be done.”

With the UAE consistently rated among the countries with the highest ODA against gross national income, Cop28 is expected to provide further impetus to reaching this collective goal – one of the tangible outcomes most negotiators have hoped for at previous Cop events.

Low-carbon fuels as the next LNG

A seat at the table

Despite the somewhat counter-intuitive proposition of giving petroleum-exporting countries a seat at the Cop negotiating table, the move is an important one, another expert tells MEED.

Mhamed Biygautane, a lecturer in public policy at the University of Melbourne, says these countries’ involvement in early discussions and negotiations is critical for any resultant decisions to have a meaningful impact on the ground.

“Petroleum states can make or break any climate-change negotiations because their interests are obviously at stake here,” he says.  

“This is particularly the case for GCC states, whose economies rely heavily on oil rents and any reductions in oil exports will most certainly adversely affect their economies.”

Karen Young, senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Centre on Global Energy Policy, also points out the importance of considering the major difference in the politics of energy transition between national oil companies such as those based in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, and international oil companies such as BP and Shell.

“The state and the firm are linked, so energy policy … can include an emphasis on carbon capture and storage (CCS), on cleaner production and simultaneously on investments in renewables and economic statecraft – to deploy investment and technology to partner states that are both profitable and strategic in foreign relations,” Young says.

For example, the UAE has two national champions, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and clean energy firm Masdar, which in a different framework could be seen as a contradiction.

According to Young, the UAE is managing the energy transition with a goal of not just state survival, but of dominance across energy markets, technology and political ties across a broad geography.

This suggests that the UAE sees Cop28 as an opportunity not just to set a climate agenda, but also to put the country in a strong economic and political leadership position for decades.

Greenwashing fears

Significantly, 2022 was a year of record profits for global and national oil majors, as the war in Ukraine depressed supply and inflated prices.

 Aramco earns $42.4bn profit in third quarter

While oil firms around the world will continue to invest in renewables, some experts say they are likely to reinvest a significant amount in conventional hydrocarbons development due to robust oil demand, regardless of climate objectives.

This has reinforced fears of widespread greenwashing, or oil majors walking back on their net-zero targets, an issue commonly raised by advocacy groups at Cop events.

“Greenwashing is real, but ultimately it is not a useful framework,” says Young. “There is oil demand. There will continue to be oil demand. What matters is how we produce and transport it and, simultaneously, with purposeful government policy, reduce demand by creating incentives to use renewable energy and increase the costs of continuing to use oil.”

Biygautane also says stronger monitoring and international conventions with more powers for sanctions and penalties are necessary to deter businesses within and outside the hydrocarbons industry from making promises they will not honour.

Another expert points out the urgent need to focus on deploying clean technologies other than renewable energy, and to decarbonise sectors other than power, such as transport and buildings, along with the need for a bigger focus on transmission and distribution within the power sector.

“The major shortcoming remains in ensuring the required financing is there, which requires collective action from governments, corporates, financing and development institutions, in addition to individual behaviour and action,” says Jessica Obeid, academy associate at think tank Chatham House’s energy, environment and resources programme in London.

“It takes a village to achieve a serious sustainable transformation of our energy systems … requirements are many and efforts are only a few,” she says.

Resource allocation

For the GCC states, where historical data has pointed to a significant discrepancy between hydrocarbons production and clean energy investments, this will mean more resource allocation is required.

For example, data from regional projects tracker MEED Projects shows that the value of wind, solar and waste-to-energy generation contracts equates to a mere 10 per cent of the $254bn-worth of contracts awarded across the GCC states’ oil and gas sectors over the past 10 years, excluding investments made by GCC-based investors and developers overseas.

When it comes to projects in the advanced procurement stage, the ratio of renewable energy projects more than doubles, at 24 per cent against the value of oil and gas schemes. 

This provides a positive market signal that could further improve if a portion of the GCC economic vision-related renewable energy schemes, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) and clean hydrogen projects move into procurement.

While this improvement may not prove to be enough to appease all climate change advocates, the clear policy convergence on clean hydrocarbons production between the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia and, to a lesser extent, Kuwait, is

significant. It could help to further drive the gradual uncoupling of their economies from fossil fuels over the coming years or decades. 

Columbia University’s Young concludes: “Which states ride the coattails of the UAE in this Cop and its subsequent agenda will be interesting to watch.” 

Technology and teamwork are critical if a low-carbon future is to be secured, says Mubadala's Saed Arar

Spotlight on the UAE

The UAE has been building up its green and clean energy base and working on energy transition objectives for some time. It set an energy diversification agenda in 2017 and was the first Middle East country to declare a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

The Abu Dhabi Energy Department has launched regulations covering waste-to-energy, electric vehicles and clean energy certificates, along with energy-efficiency initiatives that include building retrofits. 

The UAE’s clean energy installed capacity, including three units of the Barakah nuclear power plant, stood at 7.6GW as of December. It is also finalising its green hydrogen roadmap.

Pragmatic transition

The growing number of new projects involving Masdar, which Al-Jaber chairs, forms part of the UAE’s pragmatic energy transition strategy. This involves developing and expanding nuclear and renewable energy and hydrogen capacity in addition to expanding its hydrocarbons output.

Adnoc and Abu Dhabi National Energy (Taqa) have taken control of Masdar, whose operations have been split into separate renewable energy and green hydrogen businesses. The firm aims to have 100GW of renewable installed capacity and 1 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030.

“Adnoc is the only national oil company (NOC) to pursue renewable merger and acquisition, buying into the H2Teeside hydrogen project in the UK alongside BP,” notes Kavita Jadhav, research director, corporate research at UK-based Wood MacKenzie. “Its investments in low-carbon energy will increase, and it may also make further international acquisitions in hydrogen; CCUS; and solar, in a wave that could be similar to the rush of activity seen in the UK and Europe in the run-up to Cop26.”

Jadhav predicts the UAE and wider Middle East could have a similar eureka moment to the Inflation Reduction Act in the US, which promises a boom time for hydrogen, CCS and solar.

“A lot can happen when you have the spotlight on you,” she says.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10590455/main.gif
Jennifer Aguinaldo

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

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • Qatar tenders Smaisma infrastructure contract

    17 September 2025

     

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has tendered a contract inviting construction firms to bid for the remaining works on roads and infrastructure in the small seaside town of Smaisma.

    The contract covers package two in the south area of Smaisma, located 52 kilometres (km) north of Hamad International airport.

    The scope of work includes the completion of the remaining works and remedial works on three zones. Each zone is further divided into three sub-zones.

    The scope also covers the remaining works on road C1017.

    The contract duration is two years from the start of construction works.

    The tender was floated on 15 September with a bid submission date of 28 October.

    The latest notice follows the tendering for the construction of roads and infrastructure in Wadi Al-Banat North (Zone 70).

    Market overview

    After 2019, there was a consistent year-on-year decline in contract awards in Qatar’s construction and transport sectors. The total value of awards in that year was $13.5bn, but by 2023 it had fallen to just over $1.2bn.

    In 2024, the value of project contract awards increased to $1.7bn, bucking the downward trend in the market in the preceding four years.

    Of last year’s figure, the construction sector accounted for contract awards of over $1.2bn, while transport contract awards were about $200m.

    There are strategic projects in the bidding phase in Qatar worth more than $5bn, and these are expected to provide renewed impetus to the construction and transportation market, presenting opportunities for contractors in the near term.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14682452/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal
  • Dragon Oil to boost exploration and production in Egypt

    17 September 2025

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Dubai-based Dragon Oil has signed a deal with the state-owned national oil company Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), agreeing to increase exploration and production activities in the Gulf of Suez.

    Under the terms of the agreement, Dragon Oil will make investments worth about $30m.

    This will fund activities including a programme to drill at least two new wells in the East El-Hamd area.

    Abdulkarim Ahmed Al-Mazmi, the acting chief executive of Dragon Oil, said: “The signing of this agreement reaffirms Dragon Oil’s commitment to strengthening its strategic presence in the Arab Republic of Egypt and supporting EGPC’s efforts to develop energy resources in the Gulf of Suez region, in line with the company’s vision for growth and sustainability.”

    Dragon Oil is wholly owned by Emirates National Oil Company, which is fully owned by the Government of Dubai.

    Al-Mamzi said that the new investments are part of Dragon Oil’s broader strategy to expand in regional markets and to strengthen its position in the oil and gas sector, in line with the directions of the government of the UAE, and in particular the Government of Dubai.

    The agreement was signed at the EGPC headquarters in Cairo.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14680456/main.png
    Wil Crisp
  • Construction launched for final major projects of Iraq’s GGIP

    17 September 2025

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Officials have announced the start of construction on Iraq’s Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP) and the full field development of the Ratawi oil field, which is also known as the Artarwi field.

    The two projects are the two last major contracts of the Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP).

    The GGIP is led by France’s TotalEnergies, which is the operator and has a 45% stake in the project.

    Its partners are Iraq’s state-owned Basra Oil Company, which has a 30% stake, and QatarEnergy, which has a 25% stake.

    An event in Baghdad to mark the launch of the two projects was attended by senior officials including Patrick Pouyanne, the chairman and chief executive of TotalEnergies; and Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, who is Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, as well as the president and chief executive of QatarEnergy.

    In a statement, TotalEnergies said: “All four parts (natural gas, solar, oil, water) of the GGIP are now in the execution phase.”

    The CSSP will be built on Iraq's coast, near the town of Um Qasr. It will process and transport 5 million barrels a day (b/d) of seawater to the main oil fields in southern Iraq.

    Treated seawater will be substituted for the freshwater currently taken from the Tigris, Euphrates and aquifers to maintain pressure in the oil wells.

    The project is expected to help alleviate water stress in the region and free up to 250,000 cubic metres of freshwater a day for irrigation and local agriculture needs, according to TotalEnergies.

    The Ratawi redevelopment was launched in September 2023. Phase one aims to increase production to 120,000 b/d of oil and is expected to come on stream by early 2026.

    The launch of phase two, the full field development, will enable production to be increased to 210,000 b/d starting in 2028, with no routine flaring, according to TotalEnergies.

    In a statement, it said that all 160,000 cubic feet a day (cf/d) of associated gas produced will be fully processed by the 300,000 cf/d Gas Midstream Project (GMP), the construction of which began in early 2025.

    The GMP, which will also treat previously flared gas from two other fields in southern Iraq, will deliver processed gas into the national grid, where it will fuel power plants with a production capacity of approximately 1.5GW, providing electricity to 1.5 million Iraqi households.

    An early production facility to process 50,000 cf/d of associated gas will start in early 2026, together with the Ratawi phase one oil production.

    Pouyanne said: “We are delighted today to award the two final contracts of the GGIP, in particular the seawater treatment plant, which has been long awaited by the oil industry in Iraq.

    “In less than two years since the GGIP effective date in August 2023, TotalEnergies and its partners have fully executed their commitment towards the people of Iraq and launched all projects included in the multi-energy GGIP project, the best showcase of TotalEnergies' transition strategy.

    “All these projects will bring a significant contribution to the Iraq economy and employ during the construction phase 7,000 Iraqi nationals.

    “Furthermore, I am proud to confirm that the first phase of the associated gas, oil and solar projects will start up as soon as early 2026.”

    Turkiye’s Enka has signed a contract to develop a central processing facility at the Ratawi oil field as part of the second phase of the field’s development.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14680455/main.png
    Wil Crisp
  • Saudi drilling firm raises acquisition offer for Dubai rival

    16 September 2025

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Saudi Arabia-based ADES International Holding has increased its offer to buy Dubai-based, Oslo-listed rival Shelf Drilling to 18.50 Norwegian Krone ($1.88) per share, representing a 6% increase in the acquisition’s enterprise value.

    The offer was revised from an earlier deal of $1.42 per share or a total of $379.33m.

    ADES International Holding, a subsidiary of ADES Holding Company, signed a transaction agreement to acquire all issued and outstanding shares of Shelf Drilling through a cash merger, with ADES International Cayman (BidCo) also participating in the proposed merger.

    According to a joint statement, irrevocable commitments have now been provided by additional shareholders, including China Merchants, Anchorage Capital Group and Magallanes Value Investors, which, combined with ADES’ 17.9% stake in Shelf Drilling, represent 53.4% of the outstanding shares in the company.

    ADES International Holding raised its offer for Shelf Drilling after reassessing the company’s current market performance and revising its estimated annual cost synergies upwards by $10m, bringing the total to $50m-$60m.

    All other terms of the merger remain unchanged, along with the transaction timetable, with closing expected to occur in the last quarter of the year.

    Shelf Drilling is incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, with its corporate headquarters in Dubai.

    In April this year, ADES International Holding secured a 10-year extension for one of its standard offshore jack-up rigs from Saudi Aramco, valued at approximately $290m.

    The contract for the offshore jack-up marks the re-entry of ADES International Holding into the Saudi offshore oil and gas market. The rig was among six jack-ups whose charters were suspended by Aramco last April.

    ADES International Holding has secured deployments for three of those jack-ups in Qatar, Thailand and Egypt, while the fourth was recently redeployed to Thailand.

    ADES International Holding also said it has increased its footprint since the start of 2025 by securing an offshore drilling job off the coast of Nigeria, marking its entry into West Africa.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14676037/main0952.jpg
    Indrajit Sen
  • Oman tenders Rusayl power cable project

    16 September 2025

    State-owned Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) has opened bidding for the construction of the cable connection from the Rusayl power plant (GT-5 & GT-6) to the Rusayl industrial grid station.

    The tender is open to local companies with tender board registration and valid commercial registration, the authority said.

    Bids must be submitted electronically, with hard copies of the bid bond and other documents delivered to OETC’s head office in Muscat.

    The last date to obtain documents is 23 September, with bids due by 7 October. 

    The new cable tender forms part of OETC’s strategy to expand transmission in line with industrial growth. The Rusayl power plant, located near Muscat, is one of Oman’s key natural gas-fired generation facilities and supplies electricity to the Main Interconnected System (MIS), the country’s largest grid.

    The adjoining Rusayl Industrial City is a major manufacturing hub hosting companies across chemicals, textiles, electrical materials and food production, which has driven steady growth in power demand.

    OETC is undertaking several major transmission projects to reinforce the MIS. These include the construction of new 132kV grid stations, network reinforcements around Muscat and the Masirah Island interconnection, which is valued at about RO72m ($187m).

    Local firm Bahwan Engineering won the main contract for this project and started construction earlier this year.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14675720/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall