clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Oil sheikhs turning to renewables: greenwashing or real change?

January 21, 2017 at 1:02 pm

Iraqi boy stares at the raging fire on the oil wells which was caused by Daesh terrorists on 2 November 2016 [Yunus Keleş/Anadolu Agency]

Abu Dhabi’s World Future Energy Summit (WFES) came at a volatile time for global energy markets, especially since its final day came just twenty-four hours before Donald Trump’s inauguration in the United States. While the WFES – held under the patronage of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed – focused heavily on environmental issues, environmentalists can be forgiven for their scepticism when it comes to a summit on CO2 emissions and climate change being hosted by an oil producer. After all, when Abu Dhabi hosted the first of these “world” summits nine years ago, the rulers of the Gulf emirate felt very differently about fossil fuels; in 2007 and 2008, for example, the UAE and its neighbours were busy reaping the profits of an oil boom that saw record prices, and it was these same Gulf states pumping the oil that created much of today’s carbon emissions crisis.

Since then, however, the oil-fuelled monarchies have had to deal with a price freefall. On one hand, the global plunge in prices triggered the countries on the southern side of the Gulf to seek out new ways of curbing domestic fuel use, thereby wasting less of their own oil and maximising exports. At the beginning of last year, Kuwait was spending up to $10 billion on fuel and power stations instead of selling that oil abroad for hard currency. The Saudis, for all the oil they pump, still manage to burn a third of their own production for domestic electricity, equivalent to 2.8 million barrels per day.

Instead of burning oil they could be selling, these states have decided collectively that developing renewable (and especially solar) energy at home could increase profits with in-built energy security for the future. The UAE plans to increase the share of renewable sources in its energy mix to 50 per cent by 2050, while Saudi Arabia wants to generate nearly 10 gigawatts from renewables by 2023. Both countries are building massive solar energy farms in their deserts, and Dubai is currently constructing the world’s biggest solar plant.

On the other hand, moving to renewables and putting their oil wealth behind the energy solutions that could save our planet is the least the Gulf States can do to mitigate the role they played in accelerating global warming. While it is Saudi and Emirati oil that drives many of the cars on our roads, will the solar panels and wind turbines promoted at these conferences be the Gulf’s energy exports of the future? Naturally, none of this will be done out of altruism. In much the same way that countries like Norway made a fortune selling the mining technology they developed to tap their vast resources of oil, Gulf Arab leaders who invest early in renewable energy will one day sell this technology to other countries and private companies.

Gulf emirs, though, are not the only oil producers to take a leading rule in the future of energy. In Central Asia, Kazakhstan is also investing aggressively in renewables, sharing the Emirati goal of an energy mix that sees 50 per cent of domestic power come from renewables by 2050. Indeed, these leading oil states of the Islamic world are pursuing this transition together, and many of the same countries participating at the Future Energy Summit will travel to Kazakhstan for the Astana Expo 2017 from June to September. Like the Abu Dhabi summit, the expo will focus on the future of sustainable energy, with an eye to gathering best practices and approaches while showcasing new technologies. To that end, it will have an Energy Best Practices Area pavilion to showcase over 20 green energy projects from around the world.

With Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev travelling to Abu Dhabi to speak at the summit, the two countries formalised their joint green energy efforts by signing a memorandum of understanding between Astana’s Expo 2017 and Dubai’s upcoming Expo 2020. The memorandum provides for the two to work together and share expertise. In addition, the two sides also plan to collaborate on creating an international financial centre in Astana and on developing sustainability-minded or “green” bonds. With their substantial currency reserves and stockpiled oil wealth, governments like those in the Emirates and Saudi Arabia could someday fund wind and solar energy infrastructure in other parts of the Islamic world. One of Nazarbayev’s examples was that Kazakhstan could learn from the experiences of Dubai to finance such projects in accordance with Islamic Law.

On the face of it, a government like that of the UAE presenting itself as a renewable leader to the rest of the Middle East and Muslim countries further afield seems like greenwashing. The deeper and far harsher truth is that the Islamic world is just as affected by climate and environmental crises as anyone else, and much of the strife that has engulfed our countries can be linked directly to the global changes. After all, was not Syria’s historic drought one of the direct catalysts of the protests against Bashar Al-Assad and thus the subsequent war?

Countries like Kazakhstan are compelled to become responsible environmental stewards because they too are affected. The once-great Aral Sea that straddles Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan has practically disappeared, bringing with it hardship and destroying the foundation of the regional economy, though the Kazakh government’s efforts are helping to restore what’s left of the lake. As a direct result of climate change, scientists are already predicting drop-offs in Central Asia’s major rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya.

With their wealth and regional clout, the countries that built their own economies on oil are ironically the ones best-placed to help the region as a whole to ride out our planet’s extreme changes. Countries like Saudi Arabia have already rejected decades of obstructionism by signing up to the Paris climate agreement, and cities like Abu Dhabi and Astana could be the hubs for the Muslim world’s very own environmental awakening.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.