On May 29 Saudi Arabia appointed its first ever climate envoy, Mr Adel Al-Jubeir, in a royal decree. The appointment is in line with a trend in recent years across the world’s top hydrocarbon producers, especially Arab Gulf states. In November 2021 the UAE assigned Dr. Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, a cabinet member and minister for industry and advanced technology; Bader al-Dafa, a diplomat who has been the executive director of the Global Dryland Alliance, was appointed by Qatari government in May 2021; and earlier in 2014 Bahrain appointed Dr. Mohamed bin Mubarak Bin Daina special envoy for climate affairs and chief executive of the Supreme Council for Environment. These appointments reflect the increased attention being given to the issue of climate change and its geopolitical and economic implications.
Framework
The GCC is preparing for a new era of climate diplomacy. The emergence of a climate policy reflects a realisation that climate change poses a serious risk at two key levels. First, as the world heads towards alternative energy sources and reduced carbon-print, oil producing states are bracing for the dwindling oil consumption and increasing demand for renewable energy. They need to capture the shifts in energy markets. Second, climate change is transforming earth’s ecosystem at an alarming rate. Energy producing countries are mindful of the serious consequences of climate change to their environment: desertification, deforestation, vanishing water resources, unprecedented heat waves.
The appointment of climate envoys by the GCC captures the changing dynamics of global politics around climate change. US President Joe Biden has put climate change issue on US foreign policy agenda since his arrival to office in 2021, and so did the UK and other European countries. The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) 26 served as the forum for instigating a new global agenda as members pledged new policies to tackle climate change. China, the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, has promised to become carbon neutral before 2060; Europe and the US also pledged to achieve this goal by 2050. More than 70% of the world’s economies have committed to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 °C target by taking concerted climate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global warming.
GCC’s efforts
The GCC has been contributing its fair share of work to tackle the global issue. Energy producers in the hydrocarbon-rich region have joined the global effort in fighting global warming. The UAE has promised to reach global neutrality by 2050, and Saudi and Bahrain to achieve the goal by 2060. In 2021, the GCC proposed a new and upgraded set of strategies that improve the Paris Agreement, based on nationally adopted policies. And as the Egypt and UAE host COP 27 and 28 respectively, climate change will remain a high priority on Arab states agendas. The World’s largest oil producers, Saudi Aramco, revealed an ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century. It’s UAE counterpart, ADNOC, has announced a commitment to reduce its carbon emissions 25% by 2030.
Balanced strategy
Assigning climate envoys reflects an emerging dialogue between industrial states and energy producing states to address climate change, without disrupting oil and gas markets. This language is being formulated in an increased awareness to the rapidly developing climate crisis. The GCC, fully aware of this shift, are prioritising their agenda to contribute to the global effort to tackle the crisis ahead.
Hydrocarbon producing states have adopted a double strategy. On the one hand, they have been encouraging the adoption of new technologies that accelerate carbon neutrality and green emissions. On the other, they are probing strategies to increase production to meet spiking global demands and mitigate market volatility. The focus would shift on securing energy, which might have an adverse effect, for coal dependent countries would increase their production of environmentally harming forms of energy. Poorer countries, as a result, would be among the most hardly hit by the dire consequences of energy scarcity.
Saudi Arabia is one notable example of this double-strategy approach to climate crisis. Soon after his appointment, Mr Al-Jubeir, soon after his appointment as the special envoy for climate affairs, said Saudi oil production would exceed 13 million barrels by 2027. But to capture the emerging needs to address the climate crisis, Riyad had launched the Saudi Green and the Middle East Green initiatives, which aim to increase the region’s dependence on clean, green energy, and prioritise environment protection. More than USD 10 billion has been allocated through both initiatives to finance innovative solutions that help reduce carbon emissions, improve clean energy, and drive electricity generation through clean energy by up to 50% by 2030; implement one of the largest green initiatives in the world by planting more than 50 billion trees across the world, 10 billion in KSA alone. And Saudi established the Green Initiative Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that oversees the implementation of the initiatives.
The UAE has launched a series of similar initiatives. More than AED 600 billion (USD 164 billion) in clean energy sectors, nationally and globally. It has funded the establishment of new projects in solar and energy and green hydrogen, for export to global markets. These initiatives contribute to the global transition to low carbon forms of energy sources.
Immediate goals
The move to appoint climate envoys signals a seismic shift in the GCC’s diplomatic policy on climate change. Dealing with emerging global dynamics, the GCC is balancing a strategy to prioritise energy security in a volatile global market while answering to the impeding climate crises.
The envoys will play a key role in lobbying for a more engaged forum on the global warming issue. Building on diplomatic prowess and influence they could mobilise new initiatives, prioritise key issues, and accelerate the adoption of new technologies, such as carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), ultimately leading to reduced carbon emissions, while adopting the use of green energy such as hydrogen. The envoys are also expected to play an important part in securing new markets for their countries, illuminating the negative economic and social consequences of hastily parting with revenues from oil and gas.
The GCC is expected to play a key role in the future of clean energy: by adopting flexible and balanced strategies to stabilise the global energy market, and all the while remaining committed to reducing clime change and global warming. Having set ambitious goals, an effective global policy on climate change could not be achieved without the GCC’s support.
