which Jaber has been advocating in the run-up to COP28. Yet, public sector involvement will be necessary to fund industrial research and development, especially in the GCC states – where this kind of investment is the lowest among OECD economies. The EU should use its forthcoming CCUS strategy, due to be published at the end of 2023, to focus on

in order to be early movers. The EU would be their most important market, as the bloc – alongside key European countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and France – has officially identified hydrogen as key to the energy transition. In the REPowerEU initiative and External Energy Strategy, the EU reiterated its strategic int

Gulf states have long treated CCUS as a silver bullet solution. The EU cautions against the GCC countries’ overreliance on technology, and continues to stress the need for behavioural change.[4] However, the European Green Deal also recognises CCUS as a key tool to aid decarbonisation. Saudi Arabia centred its 2020 presidency of the G20 around CC

Finally, the UAE is setting high expectations on progress over climate finance at COP28. Jaber has criticised the availability and affordability of this finance, advocating an increase from “billions into trillions” in such a way that would not exacerbate the debt crisis in poorer countries. He has also argued for improved accessibility to clim

which the Council of the European Union strongly endorsed in June that year. In the framework of COP28, some EU-UAE engagement has taken place at the level of meetings between senior officials. And European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans, who leads on the European Green Deal, and Kadri Simson, the energy commissioner, took much-anticipa