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| Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Side Events |
Issue No. 2 - Friday, 11 November 2016
Events convened on Thursday, 10 November 2016 |
| Visit our IISD Coverage for Thursday, 10 November 2016, at: http://www.iisd.ca/climate/cop22/gcc/10nov.html |
| Creating Value from CO2 |
Presented by the Gulf Cooperation Council
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Nouf Aburas, Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Saudi Arabia, moderated this event, that focused on sharing efforts, progress and perspectives regarding future market potential for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), transportation and conversion into alternative industrial uses, including chemicals, cement manufacturing, food and waste treatment.
Tidjani Niass, Saudi Aramco, described a past initiative which: transformed methane from waste in business opportunity, avoiding 80 million tons of CO2 annually since 1980; and an energy management programme that foster energy efficiency due to cogeneration capacity and flaring reduction, savings 127 million tonnes of CO2 since 2000. He highlighted challenges that need to be overcome regarding CCS, including: high capital and operating cost; availability of storage capacity; lack of tailored-policy mechanisms; and the need to raise public awareness. Niass explained that instead of storing the captured CO2, it can be used in many applications, such as fuel production, chemicals, enhanced oil recovery, food, power and energy resources, carbonates, and polymers. He said many small start-up companies are being developed to use captured CO2.
Abdulaziz Al-Jodai, Director, SABIC, talked about his company’s investments in extracting flue gas and reduce GHG emissions through carbon purification processes and applications in different industries, including chemicals, polymers, agri-nutrients and metals. He noted that SABIC developed the first complete commercial technology to purify carbon dioxide in its world biggest plant. He outlined SABIC’s purification process flow and concluded that new uses for captured CO2 have been made possible via the pipeline system that delivers it to industrial consumers such as urea plants.
Nafisi Alnafisi, Green Carbon Initiate/Initiative (?), Alnafisi Industries, Kuwait, outlined the roadmap to CO2 mitigation in his region. He noted his work focuses in assisting private and public sectors to develop business models that overcome CCS challenges to use captured CO2 in sustainable applications, including: beverage carbonation, anti-microbial preservation, food freezing and in-transit refrigeration. He noted captured CO2 is being used as a substitute to chemicals that treat wastewater.
Mubarak Malhiya, Qatar Fuel Additives Company Limited (QAFAC), explained his company’s methane recovery which can be used to produce inputs to be used as a fuel additive. He outlined QAFAC’s environmental programs, including flare management, leak detection and repair, and a green belt development and zero treated wastewater discharge. He highlighted the new QAFAC project started in 2014 to recover 500 MT per day of CO2 and inject it back to methanol plant to increase production and minimize CO2 emissions.
In the ensuing discussion, participants addressed: technological CCS challenges for carbon capture, storage and reuse; the cost of recovery and purification which depends on CO2 concentration, the utilities available and the capacity of the plant; and the importance of lifecycle analysis and carbon footprint to help deciding if an application for captured CO2 is climate-friendly.
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Building Resilience and Adaptation Measures with Co-mitigation Benefits
in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf |
Presented by PERSGA
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Ali Qasem, Saudi Aramco, moderated the event that showcased the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (RSGA) regions’ efforts in their adaptation actions through ecosystem solutions.
Khaled Abdulkader, Saudi Aramco, outlined the potential to increase seafood supply via small and medium-size enterprises in Saudi Arabia. He summarized policies to avoid overexploitation and habitat degradation and to ensure fisheries sustainability in the Arabian Gulf, while increasing production. To establish a framework for managing fisheries resources, he highlighted the importance of: assessing commercial fisheries stocks; identifying relevant habitats; determining the impacts of current fishing practices; and deploying artificial reefs.
Faisal Alshuayl, High Commission of the Development of Arriyadh, Saudi Arabia, presented his city’s storm water drainage strategy, which was completed in 2014. To address rapid city development and increased urban runoff and flooding, he outlined the city’s updated masterplan to mitigate current risks. He cited some environmental solutions, including the use of sustainable urban drainage systems and green roofs.
Hashem Al-Sada, Kahramaa Energy Conservation Department, Qatar, described the energy intensity of water pumping, desalination, consumption and re-use. He outlined various measures used to manage and save water, reducing the carbon footprint in both the supply and demand sides. He explained that some policies focused on the highest consumption consumers in each economic sector to achieve water savings of 35% in 2015.
Ahmed Khalil, the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (PERSGA), explained that PERSGA supports alternative livelihoods for vulnerable coastal communities with projects on: sustainable fishery; ecotourism; diversification of commodities; pollution control; and ecosystem approaches to fisheries management and aquaculture development. He noted the importance of monitoring and coordinating regional conservation actions, and sharing experience and knowledge among member states.
Maher Amer, PERSGA, highlighted the global conservation value of marine ecosystems for local communities in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. He also noted the economic benefits derived from marine protected areas, including: sustaining food resources and livelihoods; promoting poverty reduction; job creation; and generating tourism revenue. He noted the importance of effective management to create resilience, replicate representative habitats, full protection of critical areas to serve as replenishment of ecological functions, maintain biodiversity and ecological connectivity among and between habitats.
Hussien Al-Kisswani, Jordan, summarized the vulnerability of coastal ecosystem in the Gulf of Aqaba. He described adaptation measures recommended to combat climate change: coral re-planting in less impacted sites; monitoring systems for ecosystems and species; understanding fishing activities; guidelines for implementation of integrated coastal zone management; and training and building capacity regarding such programmes.
In the ensuing discussion, participants addressed: re-use of water for irrigation systems; GHG emission scenarios used by Jordan to develop its adaptation strategy; local community participation in fisheries management of protected areas; use sustainable urban drainage systems; ways to reduce carbon water footprint per capita in Qatar.
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This issue has been written by Asterios Tsioumanis, Ph.D. The Digital Editors are Mike Muzurakis and Diego Noguera. The Editor is Leila Mead <[email protected]>. The Director of IISD Reporting Services is Langston James “Kimo” Goree VI <[email protected]>. Funding for coverage of GCC COP 22 Side Events has been provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The opinions expressed in this issue are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IISD and funder. Excerpts from this issue may be used in non-commercial publications only with appropriate academic citation. For permission to use this material in commercial publications, contact the Director of IISD Reporting Services at <[email protected]>. An electronic version of this issue can be found on the IISD Reporting Services website at http://www.iisd.ca/climate/cop22/gcc/
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