Since this update covers three days, there will be three issues discussed in this update, with special interest for engineers.
First, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates entered into a memorandum of understanding to build a 10GW land-based (as opposed to off-shore) wind farm. UAE’s $20B renewable firm, Masdar, with capacity in excess of 15 GW, will act in joint venture with Egypt’s renewable developer, Infinity and the investment platform, Hassan Allam Utilities. This farm will produce 47,790 GWh of clean energy, reduce Egypt’s natural gas costs by ~$5B, and offset 26.2M tons of CO2e each year – about 9% of Egypt’s current CO2e emissions. This project follows after an agreement in April to build green hydrogen projects capable of producing 4 GW of green hydrogen.
Second, plans for a global trading system for carbon offset credits have bogged down. Per the Paris Accord, these rules would enable a country to partially achieve national climate targets by paying others to cut greenhouse gas emissions to offset its own emissions. COP26 produced a set of broad principles, but kicked the can down the road to COP 27 to work out the details. Companies are already trading carbon credits in private markets, but a set of globally accepted rules is expected to attract investments. One agreement coming out of COP27 deferred rules about qualified project to next year. The current U.N. rules will expire in 2023 and projects will have to apply to be part of the anticipated new system. If the rules are not in place, countries would have to apply for registration without know the rules. Activists argue that offsets just permit polluters to avoid and delay cutting their own emissions. While the E.U. prefers a centralized trading board or body, the U.S. prefers a decentralized system. In any case, engineers will have a significant role to play in qualifying and measuring projects.
Third, natural gas companies EQT and NewMed Energy are seeking to present themselves as a leader in reducing global warming. There is no doubt that gas emits much less CO2 than burning coal, production and transport is associated with methane leaks, far more damaging than CO2. Both the U.S. and E.U. are enforcing controls of methane leaks. NewMed Chief, Yossi Abu, said, “We’re seeing globally people . . . developing renewables but also developing a lot of natural gas.”