European governments should encourage their GCC counterparts to make substantial investments in and rapidly deploy efficient, new-generation CCUS technology in the Middle East and North Africa. The Innovation Fund has already supported the commercialisation of some creative ways to reuse CO2 – including mineralisation, CO2-based building material

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

However, as discussed, the share of CO2 captured in the GCC countries is still critically insufficient. The GCC’s three carbon capture and storage facilities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE sequester just 3.7m tonnes per annum. The three other GCC fossil fuel producers – Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait – lag even farther behind. In the Internat

and export green hydrogen. This would require almost 40-60GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, compared to a current installed capacity of around 4,000MW. Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain do not have comparable or noteworthy renewable energy targets. Finally, the UAE is setting high expectations on progress over climate finance at COP28. Jaber has cr

elaborated a roadmap for its energy relations around the world to accompany the transition from fossil fuels to green energy. Importantly, this “REPowerEU” decarbonisation strategy clearly indicates the scale of the opportunity for exporters such as the GCC states. The EU’s External Action Service also included energy as a domain of its propo