the EU and GCC states could contribute to addressing the global need to develop commercial viability for captured or recycled CO2. This is very much in line with the “business mind-set” which Jaber has been advocating in the run-up to COP28. Yet, public sector involvement will be necessary to fund industrial research and development, especially

Among the GCC capitals, Muscat, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh are particularly active on hydrogen. In 2022, Oman published its Hydrogen Strategy, seeking $140 billion in investment to target an annual production of 1-1.25 megatonnes of green hydrogen by 2030 – mainly at HYPORT Duqm, led by the Belgian company DEME. This would rise to 3.25-3.75 megatonnes

to be capturing 44m tonnes of CO2 a year. ARAMCO is currently building a new plant in Jubail with the capacity to capture 9m tonnes per annum by 2027. Qatar and the UAE target, respectively, a total capacity of 7m tonnes per annum and 5m tonnes per annum by the same year. However, as discussed, the share of CO2 captured in the GCC countries is stil

Indeed, there is a global shortage of dedicated climate finance frameworks, including in the GCC monarchies. Some promising initial projects include the 2021 Sustainable Finance Framework in the UAE, which has pushed dozens of financial institutions to lend and invest in environmentally sound activities; a 2019 scheme from Oman’s Bank Muscat to e

At the core of the EU’s reluctance seems to be uncertainty about how to deal with entrenched views – on all sides – over how to undertake the green transition. COP28 will therefore be a crucial catalyst to explore opportunities to bridge some of those gaps. As such, Europeans should ensure that they arrive in Dubai with a clear awareness of t