The US and the UAE have signed an agreement that will help galvanize $100 billion in investments to develop 100 GW of clean energy globally by 2035, as the two oil producers seek to boost their renewables portfolios amid net zero emissions targets.
"The US-UAE Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy (PACE) is set to catalyze $100 billion in financing, investment, and other support and to deploy globally 100 gigawatts of clean energy by 2035 to advance the energy transition and maximize climate benefits," the White House said in a Nov. 1 statement.
"The United States and the UAE will set up an expert group to identify priority projects, remove potential hurdles, and measure PACE's progress in achieving its goal," it added.
The UAE, OPEC's third-biggest producer, was the first Middle East country to commit to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and was soon followed by similar pledges from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to hit that target by 2060, and Oman by 2050. The UAE is also set to host the COP28 UN climate change conference in 2023.
In 2021, the US administration of President Joe Biden announced plans to have a 50-52% reduction from 2005 levels in economy-wide net greenhouse gas pollution by 2030, before reaching net zero emissions no later than 2050.
Investment in low-income countries
"The US and UAE are well-aware of the need to bridge the gap between developed and developing countries in the investment in and deployment of clean energy to ensure global efforts to reduce emissions do not falter," the White House said. "To help bridge the gap, the two countries intend to work together to prioritize commercial projects in developing and low-income countries as well as provide them technical and financial assistance."
The UAE is boosting its renewables portfolio, while at the same time ramping up its oil production. State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. plans to boost its oil production capacity to 5 million b/d by 2030, from over 4 million b/d now.
Separately, UAE renewables firm Masdar, in which ADNOC has a stake, plans to develop as much as 100 GW of clean energy by 2030 from 15 GW reached in 2021.
"PACE intends to tap available resources and public and private sector expertise in the US and the UAE and expedite investment in and deployment of new technologies to drive down cost," the White House said. "In addition, PACE plans to help facilitate investment in mining, production, and processing of critical minerals and materials that are vital for clean energy production."
The US and the UAE also plan to boost investment in the reduction of hydrocarbon emissions, including the development of carbon, capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) and abatement of methane emissions.
Methane emissions reduction
"The US and UAE will take leadership in stepping up investment in fossil fuel emissions abatement technologies, as decarbonized hydrocarbons will be a source for hydrogen production as well as an input for durable and consumer goods," the White House said. "The two countries will give momentum to deploying and further developing new technologies for carbon capture, utilization, and storage, in addition to measuring and reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the hydrocarbon value chain. PACE also seeks to make methane abatement a global fast mitigation strategy this decade."
ADNOC, the biggest energy producer in the UAE, has set a new upstream methane intensity target of 0.15% by 2025, it said Oct. 31. Currently, ADNOC has the capacity to capture 800,000 mt/year of CO2 and it plans to expand the capacity six-fold by capturing CO2 from its own gas plants, with the aim of reaching 5 million mt/year of CO2 capture by 2030.
"PACE will encourage investment and project-level collaboration, in addition to spurring demand for net-zero emissions industrial products and helping to ramp up supply of such products," the White House said. "The US and UAE intend to work together to scale up production of clean fuels in long-distance transport sectors such as aviation and shipping."
"PACE will encourage investment and project-level collaboration, in addition to spurring demand for net-zero emissions industrial products and helping to ramp up supply of such products," the White House said. "The US and UAE intend to work together to scale up production of clean fuels in long-distance transport sectors such as aviation and shipping."