Advocating Climate Solutions at COP26

Several KAUST faculty members attended COP26 in Glasgow to share their expertise on the impacts of climate change and available solutions

In November 2021, several KAUST faculty members participated in the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, the preeminent global meeting to advance action on climate change. Across two weeks, KAUST faculty joined scientists, policymakers, activists and leaders from around the world in a series of panel events, informal discussions and presentations. Their presence helped bring attention to the impacts of climate change on the natural environment and its related economic consequences. The conference also provided an opportunity to showcase the university’s groundbreaking research in climate change mitigation and offer KAUST’s thought leadership in the search for climate solutions.

With 2021 marking its 26th iteration, the COP summit serves as a major international effort to catalyze action on climate change and address one of the most existential threats of our time. In total, more than 39,000 participants from around the world attended COP26. The conference included myriad side events in national pavilions. These offered a space for countries and organizations to host events, showcase research and expertise, and engage with other COP attendees.

KAUST faculty participated in events run by the Saudi Ministry of Energy, the International Coral Reef Society and Aeon Collective, a leading Saudi-based sustainable development group. These focused on a range of themes including climate adaptation, protecting and restoring coral, transitioning to net-zero emissions, hydrogen energy, solar technology, the circular carbon economy (CCE) and clean combustion. global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. KAUST Distinguished Professor of Marine Science Carlos Duarte drew attention to mangrove and seagrass restoration projects as important carbon sinks that offer nature-based solutions to climate change.

Rod A. Wing, director of the KAUST Center for Desert Agriculture, and Ibrahim Hoteit, professor of earth science and engineering, were joined by KAUST PhD candidate Natalia Odnoletkova to present on the impacts of climate change on Saudi Arabia’s natural environment and the adaptation measures required. Stefaan De Wolf, principal investigator of the KAUST Photovoltaics Laboratory, shared insights on highly efficient next-generation solar cell technology, while Cafer Yavuz, professor of chemical science, showed his catalyst development for dry reforming – a reaction that could result in gigaton-scale carbon utilization without changing fuel infrastructure, and jumpstart the CCE. Ana Margarida

MINISTRY OF ENERGY

“The contributions of institutions like KAUST are vital to the success of our national efforts to address climate change. Through scientific expertise, thought leadership and commitment to innovation, KAUST accelerates research and dialogue, while producing effective and viable solutions. KAUST will remain a key national partner as we look to the future and begin applying the takeaways of COP26 to our ambitious national climate action agenda.”

Khalid Abuleif, Saudi Arabia’s Chief Negotiator for Climate Agreements and Senior Sustainability Advisor to HRH the Minister of Energy

Costa, head of Sustainability at KAUST, highlighted the collaborative research between the university, the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany and the University of Aveiro in Portugal on the impacts of climate change and air pollution on human health in the GCC.

Mani Sarathy, associate director of the KAUST Clean Combustion Research Center, discussed pathways to produce and transport hydrogen as part of global and regional efforts to scale up the technology. Volker Vahrenkamp, professor of energy resources and petroleum engineering, shed light on blue hydrogen as a concept for the transformation of hydrocarbonbased economies, and Deanna Lacoste, associate professor of mechanical engineering, spoke of the role of clean combustion in mobility and power generation. William McDonough, CEO of McDonough Innovation and KAUST Distinguished Research Professor, hosted an innovation hub in the Glasgow city center focused on the circular economy and the CCE. It provided a space for companies to showcase their sustainability work.

The Kingdom faces formidable challenges from the environmental impacts of climate change and the economic shifts of the global energy transition. The country has unveiled a series of major new initiatives and strategies in recent years to address these challenges and combat climate change. In March 2021, the Kingdom announced the Saudi Green Initiative and a regional Middle East Green Initiative that promote a range of goals and themes, such as increasing clean energy, offsetting the impact of fossil fuels and protecting the environment. Chief among these is a plan to plant 10 billion trees in Saudi Arabia and a further 40 billion trees in other Middle Eastern countries over the next two decades. These will absorb millions of tonnes of CO2. The following month, Saudi Arabia joined the Net Zero Producers Forum, a new initiative focused on developing net-zero emission strategies among major oil and gas producing countries. In October 2021, the Kingdom announced a target of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2060 – another major milestone.

At the center of the Kingdom’s climate strategy is the CCE concept, a multi-faceted approach that emphasizes the role of carbon capture, utilization and storage in reducing emissions. The concept was endorsed by the leaders of the G20 in late 2020. KAUST launched its own Circular Carbon Initiative in December 2020 to support national efforts and bring together the university’s research undertakings to develop CCE technology.

MICHAEL BERUMEN Professor of Marine Science

KAUST’S DEEP EXPERTISE ACROSS OUR CROSS-CUTTING RESEARCH THEMES OF FOOD, ENERGY, WATER AND ENVIRONMENT IS HELPING TO ADDRESS THE PERVASIVE CHALLENGES POSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE. KAUST’S REPRESENTATION AT COP26 REFLECTS THE INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE UNIVERSITY’S LEADERSHIP.

KAUST will be a key partner in delivering on these ambitious national strategies, and is committed to providing advanced scientific solutions and cross-sectoral innovation that can contribute to immediate action. The university’s deep commitment to research excellence and innovation is helping Saudi Arabia accelerate the transformation of the energy sector and advance various sustainability initiatives.