[ad_1]
Karine Elharrar. — Supplied photo
Investors and policymakers are now putting enormous pressure on oil and gas companies to make the transition from traditional businesses to more sustainable ones.
Israel’s minister of energy said on Tuesday that a three-party energy partnership deal his country has with the UAE and Jordan offers a model for cross-border cooperation to mitigate the climate crisis.
Addressing the audience at the fourth edition Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit, Karine Elharrar, Minister of Energy, stated that countries and organizations must form cross-border partnerships in order to ensure that the global energy sector meets its responsibilities to reduce climate change.
Elharrar spoke out about a deal this week that saw a Jordanian solar plant generate electricity for Israel and a Jordanian desalination plant provide water to Jordan as part of the same three party partnership with the UAE.
“Cross-border cooperation of this kind for a common international struggle in tackling climate change is a precise example of a twin transition in which innovation and sustainability meet and create holistic solutions to tackling the climate crisis that threatens countries and communities. This is our planet, our future, and it’s our mission to save it,” she said in a keynote ahead of a panel entitled ‘The Twin Transition: Where innovation, technology and sustainability meet.’
Musabbeh Al Kaabi is the CEO of UAE Investments at Mubadala. He noted that although the oil and gas industry has had many opportunities to become a sustainable sector since the 1980s, it must now embrace new modes.
“Going forward, energy companies around the world have a collective responsibility to become part of a future energy ecosystem. Investors and policymakers are putting enormous pressure on oil and gas companies to make the transition from traditional businesses to more sustainable ventures. The winners will be the nimble companies that can accelerate towards that pivot quickest,” said Al Kaabi.
Abdulla Shahid, President, United Nations General Assembly, spoke separately at GMIS on Tuesday. He highlighted the stark differences in technological capability between the global south and north, which has exacerbated the difficulties faced by developing countries in their efforts to recover from the pandemic.
In what he described as his “presidency of hope”, the UNGA president said, “I will do my utmost to ensure that we not only recover better and sustainably, but we do so equitably with no one left behind.
“Covid-19 caused massive disruption in manufacturing and supply chains,” His Excellency continued, “but this was on the horizon before Covid-19 and was mainly driven by the fourth industrial revolution, climate change, and the reconfiguration of globalisation.
“The good news is 4IR technologies are playing a major role when it comes to cutting emissions, water and material consumption and the optimisation of waste management.
“I call upon countries to invest in climate-friendly technologies that will spur recovery efforts by respecting our planet’s health and share these technologies with developing countries,” he said.
In the panel discussion that followed, the themes of equitable development and the role of technology were picked up by Dr. Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, Prime Minister of Namibia. She spoke out on the problem of delivering government services in a country of only 2.5 million people. Technology can be both a solution or a challenge.
[ad_2]
