The EU should intensify its diplomatic efforts to promote energy efficiency in the GCC. It should focus specifically on: decarbonising transport networks; encouraging the introduction of enforceable norms in green buildings, especially on insulation and cooling; and sensitising consumers to the importance of energy efficiency. Here, the EU-GCC Coop
for the hydrogen business, such as port facilities, LNG export and import terminals and gas pipelines, and salt domes for storage. This could enable the long-term economic survival of oil and gas firms after the energy transition is complete. Indeed, some GCC countries (for example, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Oman) have accelerated their hydrogen p
and the EU-GCC Clean Energy Technology Network, which ended last year. These frameworks encouraged and facilitated the participation of Europe’s private sector in energy including in electricity interconnections – the core infrastructure that enables efficiency and electrification. European and GCC producers, transmission system operators, an
The UAE and other fossil fuel producers saw the scramble for energy security after the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an opportunity to argue, as Jaber has, that fossil fuels are still necessary: “[we] cannot unplug the current energy system before we have built the new one,” he said at India Energy Week in February 2023. At this year’s CERAW
Italy has emerged as the third active member state. Alongside LNG cooperation, Italian energy multinational Eni signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia’s minister of investment in September 2022 that covers sustainable mobility, the circular economy, and the chemical industry. The Italian government promoted the first pre-COP28 eve