Today is World Environment Day—a day dedicated to celebrating and raising awareness about the environment, so I thought I would write a bit about ‘decarbonisation’: what it is, why we need it, and how we can achieve it.
You have probably heard all the buzzwords by now: net zero, decarbonisation, renewable energy, green hydrogen, and so on. All of these concepts and solutions are meant to address humanity’s biggest challenge: climate change.
I will spare you the write-up on what climate change is and why it is disastrous to humanity if left unchecked, but suffice it is to say that this is a problem of gargantuan proportions that will require many solutions and global cooperation on an unprecedented scale. Thankfully, the world did come together back in 2015 to sign the Paris Agreement. This landmark agreement was the first time in history that almost all of the world (196 countries to be exact) collectively acknowledged the existence and impact of climate change on the world, as well as the urgent need to address it.
Oman signed the Paris Agreement on 22 April 2016 and ratified it by Royal Decree 18/2019 on 24 April 2019. You can view more treaties ratified by Oman on the Treaties section on Decree.
The underlying objective of the agreement, which is sometimes referred to as the Paris Accord, is to limit global warming to below 2°C, with 1.5°C being the ideal target. To achieve this, the parties to the agreement need to reduce their total greenhouse gas emissions to zero by mid-century. In other words, if a country does emit greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, it will need to offset these emissions so that the total resulting emissions are zero. This is commonly referred to as ‘net zero’.
The agreement requires that its parties submit short-term and long-term plans explaining how they will contribute to this target. The short-term plan is referred to as a Nationally Determined Contribution (or NDC), submitted on a 5-year basis, while the long-term plan is given the incredibly long name of ‘long-term greenhouse gas emission development strategy’ or ‘long-term strategy’ for short. This is also commonly referred to as a decarbonisation roadmap.
‘Decarbonisation’ is a bit of a misnomer. When we refer to decarbonisation, we are not only referring to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions but also the emissions resulting from other greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide. That being said, carbon dioxide does take the lion’s share of greenhouse gas emissions as it accounts for almost ¾ of global emissions. Perhaps ‘decarbonisation’ is the right term after all.
Putting aside the naming choice, decarbonisation is imperative for the world if it wants to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement. For that to happen, every country will need to do its part by producing a decarbonisation roadmap and following through with its implementation.
“Decarbonisation is imperative for the world if it wants to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement.”
Oman has not pledged to achieve net zero by 2050, nor has it submitted a decarbonisation roadmap under the Paris Agreement. It has, however, pledged to reduce its emissions by 7% by 2030 (compared to a business-as-usual model) and to achieve ‘zero routine flaring’ by 2030 as well. There is also a lot of momentum and interest in this subject as of late, so I would not be surprised if Oman pledges within the next few years to achieve net zero by 2050 (or to become carbon-neutral if we are using climate jargon).
Achieving net zero is a monumental task and according to the Climate Action Tracker, an NGO specialising in this field, there does not seem to be any country in the world that has produced a 1.5°C-compatible roadmap so far. With the right policies and incentives, I believe that Oman can achieve this goal.
For starters, Oman does not have any coal-fired power plants, which is the biggest culprit in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, with its CO2 emissions being double that of gas-fired power plants for the same output of energy. Double!
It also has a fairly robust electricity sector that has been deploying several renewable energy projects, with Ibri II Solar IPP being the largest with a nameplate capacity of 500 megawatts. That is fantastic news and will certainly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the fleet of gas-fired power plants in Oman.
However, policymakers will also need to look into solutions for when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. Energy storage springs to mind as an elegant solution, with green hydrogen being at the forefront, but several challenges lie ahead if Oman seeks to transition to the so-called ‘hydrogen economy’.
“Energy storage springs to mind as an elegant solution, with green hydrogen being at the forefront, but several challenges lie ahead if Oman seeks to transition to the so-called ‘hydrogen economy’.”
One of the key challenges with green hydrogen is its round-trip efficiency, which is the percentage of energy retrieved from the energy originally put in. Green hydrogen has an electrical round-trip efficiency of around 30% using current electrolysis technologies. While this will improve in the future, there are some hard limits due to the immutable laws of thermodynamics.
Another concern with hydrogen is its impact on climate change. A recent study has shown that hydrogen that leaks into the atmosphere may cause global warming in its own right that is 33 times more impactful than carbon dioxide (using a measure called the ‘Global Warming Potential’ or GWP).
There is also the fact that while hydrogen used in fuel cells is not polluting, hydrogen combustion—on the other hand—is polluting. Somewhere down the line, the distinction between those two uses of hydrogen seems to have blurred, with many articles nowadays incorrectly claiming that hydrogen combustion is not polluting.
This is not to say that green hydrogen will not play a role in decarbonisation. On the contrary, I believe green hydrogen has a crucial role in decarbonising the gigatonnes of grey hydrogen produced every year.
There are also several promising technologies and solutions on the horizon and keeping a close eye on them would be sensible. Once these technologies have achieved a high level of readiness, measured in Technology Readiness Levels (or TRL), they can then be successfully deployed in Oman as well.
Oman will need to do its part to tackle climate change and I am confident that it has the necessary tools, resources, and capabilities at its disposal to achieve this. Deploying them to their fullest extent will be key in this transition.
“There are also several promising technologies and solutions on the horizon and keeping a close eye on them would be sensible.”
