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Masdar is seeking to become one of the world’s leading players in the growing green hydrogen econpmy, one of the company’s executive directors told Energy Intelligence. As one of the world’s leading clean energy companies, Masdar has set its sights on becoming a hub for the production and export of green hydrogen, Mohammed Abdelqader El-Ramahi, Masdar’s Executive Director for Hydrogen, said in an interview.

“We want to become one of the top five players globally,“ El-Ramahi said according to the report, “and we want to be one of the key players in the green hydrogen spectrum as the fuel of the future,”

Late last year, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and TAQA, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, completed the transaction that saw them take stakes in Masdar alongside the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala. The new partnership means Masdar has set ambitious targets of reaching 100 gigawatts of mostly solar and wind capacity by 2030, up from 20 GW currently. The company has also established a green hydrogen unit, headed by El-Ramahi, which is targeting production of 1 million tonnes of green hydrogen and derivatives by 2030.

By capitalizing on shareholder ADNOC’s infrastructure and key role in the petrochemical, oil and gas industries, Masdar will make Abu Dhabi a key international hub for the production and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives, El-Ramahi said. “We are leveraging their knowledge,“ he told Energy Intelligence, “not to mention also their network trading routes in the spectrum of green hydrogen.”

Of the 1 million tonnes capacity, half will be produced in Abu Dhabi, with local demand projected at around 200,000 tonnes per year, and the remaining volumes exported, according to the report, with the rest produced internationally.

El-Ramahi said Masdar is focusing on “key geographies,” including Saudi Arabia and Oman. Both countries have significant solar and wind potential. Egypt and Morocco are also attractive locations, given their access to infrastructure and status as export hubs.

“We will be leveraging our potentials within Mubadala, TAQA and ADNOC on all prospects — financial through relationships with banks and international financial institutions, in addition to both technical and commercial networks, knowledge, know-how, to accelerate this footpath into meeting our projected targets,” El-Ramahi said.

He predicted that, as technology evolves and regulatory frameworks are established, the green hydrogen market will grow. Masdar also sees green hydrogen becoming cost competitive beyond 2027 and toward 2030.

As Masdar moves ahead with construction of its Cirata floating solar power plant in Indonesia, the company is looking to develop its floating solar portfolio in the Asia-Pacific region, Masdar President Director for Indonesia, Fatima Al Suwaidi, said this week in an interview with Asian Power.

Construction on the 145-megawatt Cirata floating solar photovoltaic (PV) project, the first in Indonesia, began in August and is expected to start commercial operation in the second half of this year. Once completed, the plant will provide enough electricity to power 50,000 homes and offset 214,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. 

“The Cirata project was our first investment in Southeast Asia, and it's not going to be our last,” Al Suwaidi said in the interview. The technology used in the Cirata project is “interesting and attractive to a number of other countries in Asia Pacific region that we know are looking into floating solar PV plants as a solution to the scarcity of land with expanding population,” she added. “So going forward, we're looking at growing a floating solar portfolio significantly in this region, given the need and the interest.” 

This year, Masdar signed an agreement with Singapore’s Tuas Power, France’s EDF Renewables, and PT Indonesia Power to explore the development of renewable energy within Indonesia for export to Singapore. When asked about the impetus for the project, Al Suwaidi said: “We're looking into doubling down in key geographies and technologies we know very well. We seek long term bankable projects with clearly defined risk boundaries, as well as strong partnerships in the countries where we operate.”

"We rely on our expertise in Abu Dhabi which also extends across the globe. Our local presence and our ability to scale to make the right connections and find the right opportunities, wherever we find them. This specific opportunity with Indonesia and Singapore was established from the relationships between the countries,” she said.

Renewable energy maintained its growth momentum in 2021 despite global uncertainties, accounting for 81 percent of total capacity expansion last year, according to the latest report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

By the end of 2021, global renewable generation capacity amounted to 3,064 gigawatts (GW), increasing the stock of renewable power by 9.1 percent, the Renewable Capacity Statistics 2022 report shows.

While hydropower still accounted for the largest share of total capacity with 1,230 GW, solar and wind continued previous years’ trend of dominating new generating capacity. Solar and wind represented 88 percent of new capacity in 2021, with 19 percent and 13 percent generating increases, respectively.

“This continued progress is another testament of renewable energy’s resilience. Its strong performance last year represents more opportunities for countries to reap renewables’ multiple socio-economic benefits. However, despite the encouraging global trend, [the] energy transition is far from being fast or widespread enough to avert the dire consequences of climate change,” said IRENA Director-General, Francesco La Camera.

“Our current energy crisis also adds to the evidence that the world can no longer rely on fossil fuels to meet its energy demand. Money directed to fossil fuel power plants yields unrewarding results, both for the survival of a nation and the planet. Renewable power should become the norm across the globe. We must mobilize the political will to accelerate the 1.5°C pathway.”

To achieve climate goals, renewables must grow at a faster pace than energy demand. However, many countries have not reached this point yet, despite significantly increasing the use of renewables for electricity generation.

Most of the new renewable capacity in 2021 was added in Asia, with 1.46 Terawatt (TW) accounting for 60 percent of new capacity. China was the biggest contributor, adding 121 GW to the continent’s new capacity.

Europe had the second-largest increased renewable capacity, adding 39 GW, while North America – led by the US – was a close third with 38 GW. South America had the fourth-highest capacity increase, amounting to 15.5 GW.

Africa’s renewable capacity grew by 3.9 percent while Central America and the Caribbean had an increase of 3.3 percent. The Middle East region recorded 4.5 percent growth, with a 1 GW increase in renewable sources.

The full Renewable Capacity Statistics 2022 including the highlights can be found here.

A reduction in the growth rate of global greenhouse gas emissions provides a short window of opportunity to limit the maximum temperature increase to 1.5°C (2.7°F) by 2025, and avoid the more catastrophic effects of climate change, scientists have stated in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

This was one of the major messages from the Summary for Policymakers of the IPCC Working Group III report, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of climate change, approved on April 4 by 195 member governments of the IPCC. It is the third installment of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), which will be completed this year.

The report noted that although the average annual global greenhouse gas emissions were at their highest levels in human history during the 2010-2019 period, the rate of growth has since slowed due to climate action. Immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors can help contain global warming within the limit of a 1.5°C increase from pre-industrial times.

“We are at a crossroads. The decisions we make now can secure a livable future. We have the tools and know-how required to limit warming,” said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee. “There are policies, regulations, and market instruments that are proving effective. If these are scaled up and applied more widely and equitably, they can support deep emissions reductions and stimulate innovation.” 

Some of the effective practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions include a substantial reduction in fossil fuel use, widespread electrification, improved energy efficiency, and the use of alternative fuels (such as hydrogen). Creating compact and walkable cities, electrifying transport in combination with low-emission energy sources, and enhancing carbon uptake and storage using nature can also lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Other climate actions include reducing industry emissions – which account for a quarter of total emissions -- by reducing waste and increasing the efficient use of materials. Low- to zero-greenhouse gas production processes for basic materials like steel and chemicals are at their pilot to near-commercial stage and should contribute to overall industry sustainability in the future.

“Having the right policies, infrastructure, and technology in place to enable changes to our lifestyles and behavior can result in a 40-70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This offers significant untapped potential,” said IPCC Working Group III Co-Chair Priyadarshi Shukla.
According to the IPCC, achieving the warming limit requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest, and be reduced by 43% by 2030. It also requires methane to be reduced by about a third.

“It’s now or never if we want to limit global warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) … Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible,” said IPCC Working Group III Co-Chair Jim Skea.

The global temperature will stabilize when carbon dioxide emissions reach net zero. For a 1.5°C (2.7°F) increase, this means achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions globally in the early 2050s; for a 2°C (3.6°F) increase, it is in the early 2070s. This assessment shows that limiting warming to around 2°C (3.6°F) still requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest, and be reduced by a quarter by 2030.

“Climate change is the result of more than a century of unsustainable energy and land use, lifestyles and patterns of consumption and production … This report shows how taking action now can move us towards a fairer, more sustainable world,” Skea said.

Wind and solar power accounted for 10 percent of global electricity share last year, a milestone enabled by a 23 percent increase in solar generation and a 14 percent increase in wind, according to a report from climate and energy thinktank Ember.  

“Wind and solar have arrived. The process that will reshape the existing energy system has begun. This decade they need to be deployed at lightning speed to reverse global emissions increases and tackle climate change,” Dave Jones, global lead, Ember, said in the Global Electricity Review 2022 report. Ember’s third annual review, released on March 30, aims to provide the most transparent and up-to-date overview of changes in the global electricity transition in 2021.

The report also noted that clean electricity sources – which alongside solar and wind include nuclear, hydro, and bioenergy – generated 38 percent of the world’s electricity in 2021, more than coal’s 36 percent.

However, the report found that coal power also rose by 9 percent in 2021 to 10,042 TWh, reaching a new all-time high. Although global electricity demand intensified, with a 1,414 TWh increase from 2020 to 2021, only 29 percent of that increase was met with wind and solar. The remaining demand was met by fossil fuels, with 59 percent met by coal generation alone. This contributed to a new record in CO2 emissions from the power sector, increasing 7 percent in 2021 (778 million tons), the biggest absolute rise ever.

“With sustained high gas prices amid Russia’s war with Ukraine, there is a real risk of relapse into coal, threatening the global 1.5 degrees climate goal. Clean electricity now needs to be built on a heroic scale. Leaders are only just waking up to the challenge of how quickly they need to move to 100 percent clean electricity,” Jones affirmed.

The Ember report stated that in order to keep global climate heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times, as targeted by the International Energy Agency (IEA), wind and solar energies must sustain high compound growth rates of 20 percent every year to 2030.

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, hosted by Masdar, partnered with Harvard Business Review to conduct survey-led research into issues around the adoption of environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and try to understand just how businesses are implementing ESG strategies.

The report, Reaping Returns on Environmental, Social and Governance Investments, which surveyed 249 executives from global businesses across a range of industries, found that interest in ESG adoption is strong, with 83 percent of respondents indicating that their organization will increase investment in ESG initiatives over the next 12 months. While only 9 percent of respondents said they have already seen a financial return on their ESG investment, most organizations believe this will lead to future financial benefits, with 22 percent saying they will see this within a year, although 41 percent said it would take two to five years.

According to the report, “strong tailwinds of change are encouraging organizations to assume greater corporate responsibility for their impact on the world’s natural resources, the well-being of employees, and ethical decision making in the boardroom.” However, developing an ESG strategy, one that evaluates and addresses issues that affect an organization’s operations and practices – and potentially its value – is still proving challenging, with 27 percent of respondents indicating that they have yet to put a formal ESG strategy in place, and 10 percent saying they are not currently working on improving their ESG performance.

To support the research, Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week recently hosted Alex Clemente, Founding Managing Director of Harvard Business Review Analytic Services who examined the report findings and discussed ESG in more detail. Moderated by Zainab Al Ali, Head of Outreach and Stakeholder Relations at Masdar, the virtual session can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebzyckDlASk

More information on the topic of ESG, including the full Harvard Business Review report can be found at adsw.ae.

Human-induced climate change is already causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature, affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, and time is running out to prevent its most serious consequences, according to scientists in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released this week.

The world faces unavoidable multiple climate hazards over the next two decades with global warming of 1.5°C, according to the IPCC, the world’s leading authority on climate science. Even temporarily exceeding this warming level will result in additional severe impacts, some of which will be irreversible. Risks for society will increase, including to infrastructure and low-lying coastal settlements.

“This report is a dire warning about the consequences of inaction,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC. “It shows that climate change is a grave and mounting threat to our wellbeing and a healthy planet. Our actions today will shape how people adapt and nature responds to increasing climate risks.”

To avoid mounting loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure, ambitious, accelerated action is required to adapt to climate change, at the same time as making rapid, deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, the IPCC warns. So far, progress on adaptation is uneven and there are increasing gaps between action taken and what is needed to deal with the increasing risks, the new report finds. 

“This report recognizes the interdependence of climate, biodiversity and people and integrates natural, social and economic sciences more strongly than earlier IPCC assessments,” said Hoesung Lee. “It emphasizes the urgency of immediate and more ambitious action to address climate risks. Half measures are no longer an option.”

Increased heatwaves, droughts and floods are already exceeding plants’ and animals’ tolerance thresholds, driving mass mortalities in species such as trees and corals. These weather extremes are occurring simultaneously, causing cascading impacts that are increasingly difficult to manage. They have exposed millions of people to acute food and water insecurity, especially in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, on Small Islands and in the Arctic.

The report clearly states Climate Resilient Development is already challenging at current warming levels. It will become more limited if global warming exceeds 1.5°C. In some regions, it will be impossible if global warming exceeds 2°C, the IPCC warned. Adequate funding, technology transfer, political commitment and partnership lead to more effective climate change adaptation and emissions reductions.

“The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future,” said IPCC Working Group II Co-Chair Hans-Otto Pörtner.

It is still possible to adapt to a changing climate, with nature having the potential not only to reduce climate risks but also to improve people’s lives, the IPCC said. 

“Healthy ecosystems are more resilient to climate change and provide life-critical services such as food and clean water”, said Pörtner. “By restoring degraded ecosystems and effectively and equitably conserving 30 to 50 percent of Earth’s land, freshwater and ocean habitats, society can benefit from nature’s capacity to absorb and store carbon, and we can accelerate progress towards sustainable development, but adequate finance and political support are essential.”

The recent COP26 climate change conference was successful and represents a “fantastic achievement,” Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, told Forbes Middle East in an in-depth interview.

The conference, which concluded last month in Glasgow, Scotland, stands out from other COPs he had attended because people were ready to negotiate this time, Al Ramahi told Forbes ME. “I have attended several COPs, but the reality is now there is global consent that we do have an issue, and if this issue is not managed properly, all of us will suffer,” Al Ramahi said in the article. “That by itself is an achievement, a fantastic achievement to be honest.” 

The article highlights the positive impact that Masdar is making in the renewable energy sector, having tripled its generation capacity in the past three years, from around 4 gigawatts (GW) in 2018, to almost 14 GW today. 

“Our investments allow technologies to prove themselves and scale, which in turn makes them more competitive,” said Al Ramahi. “If we look to 2050, then wind and solar technologies, which are relatively mature and cost-effective, will capture the highest share in global power generation spend with predicted cumulative investments of a combined US$10 trillion. This compares to US$2 trillion in gas and US$500 billion in coal investments.” 

Al Ramahi has been with Masdar almost from the beginning, having joined in 2008 after a successful career in the oil & gas industry. “The objective and the mandate of this organization has been something unique from day one. Whatever we do and whatever we have done has a direct impact on our environment, on our future, on our youth,” he said in the article. “It has been a really tremendous journey.”

Human activities are ‘unequivocally’ the cause of the climate crisis, according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading authority on climate science. Climate change is being observed in every region of the world, and across the entire climate system, with some of the changes, such as rising sea levels, being irreversible, scientists said.   

However, “strong and sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases would limit climate change,” the IPC said, although it warned that “unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond reach.” 

For the first time, the report includes a dedicated chapter on the increasing incidence of extreme weather events globally, stating that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have “led to an increased frequency and/or intensity of some weather and climate extremes since pre-industrial times.”   
The report also suggests that the threshold for global warming above 1.5°C could be exceeded in the early 2030s, under a moderate emissions climate-modelling scenario unless appropriate and rapid large-scale mitigation takes place in the next decades. 

“Climate change is already affecting every region on Earth, in multiple ways. The changes we experience will increase with additional warming,” said IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair Panmao Zhai.
Warming of 2°C is likely to take place with a range of 2037-2084, under moderate Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) scenarios, and with a range of 2035-2062, under the high emissions SSP scenario. The SSPs are different scenarios modelled by scientists and based on different situations for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

“Stabilizing the climate will require strong, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and reaching net zero CO2 emissions. Limiting other greenhouse gases and air pollutants, especially methane, could have benefits both for health and the climate,”

Focusing on the Middle East, the report cites that observed changes in hot extremes has increased and there is medium confidence in human contribution to the observed changes on the Arabian Peninsula. It also states that there has been “an observed annual precipitation decline over the peninsula since the 1980s of 6.3 mm per decade.” 

However, further water cycle changes are expected toward the end of the century with climate change models predicting an increase in annual precipitation over the southern Arabian Peninsula and a decrease over the northern Arabian Peninsula to 2100.

In general, the Arabian Peninsula is also likely to see an increase in intensity and frequency of hot extremes and a decrease in intensity and frequency of cold extremes to the end of the century.