New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
How fast grows the greening of the Middle East?
19/3/2025
8 min read
Feature
The Middle Eastern GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) alliance justifies the pace of its energy transition (mostly net zero by 2060) with a continued emphasis on fossil reserves as well as major renewable projects – taking into account energy supply and demand, sustainability and energy security. An informed panel session at International Energy Week highlighted the key issues and some recent initiatives. New Energy World Features Editor Brian Davis reports.
‘Appreciation of conventional energy is very important for GCC countries, because a lot of our GDP depends on income which is directly or indirectly related to oil and gas,’ said Dr Waddah Ghanem, ENOC Senior Director, Logistics and Marine Assurance. Also Honorary Chair of the Energy Institute’s Middle East Chapter, he referred to the grouping of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
‘But there is also an appreciation that the energy mix requires renewables, particularly in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with initiatives in areas like solar, green hydrogen and waste-to-energy.’
Technology advancement in areas such as data management and artificial intelligence (AI) also have an important role to play, along with strengthening the skill base of the indigenous population, he remarked.