The Gulf Organisation for Research & Development (Gord) and Global Carbon Council (GCC) were the strategic partners of the Mena region’s first Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) Forum, which concluded in Doha on Tuesday.
The three-day event organised by Oman-based Birba Energy and held under the patronage of Qatar's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, brought together over 500 delegates and visitors from different countries, including government representatives, industries, and leading climate and technology experts.
The forum provided a platform for dialogue, knowledge sharing, and the fostering of strategies to drive the global transition to a low-carbon future. Showcased were technologies being developed to capture and remove CO2 from the atmosphere, and aimed to create commercial markets for utilising the captured CO2 and advance its permanent storage via geological sequestration.
Dr Yousef Alhorr, founding chairman of Gord and GCC, said: “As the first CCUS Forum in the Mena region, this event marks a turning point in our collective efforts to address the pressing climate challenges faced by the region and the world. An energy transition supported by CCUS will enable global economies to diversify their energy mix, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to the global transition towards a low-carbon economy, in alignment with the Paris Agreement.”
Representing the Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foundation for Energy & Sustainable Development, HE Dr Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada, former Minister of Energy & Industry, said: “I commend the organising committee for focusing on carbon capture, utilisation and storage – a technology that is key for advancing low carbon solutions in the energy sector... Through its innovative methods of capturing carbon dioxide emissions, utilising them in various applications, and safely storing them underground, CCUS provides a range of environmental, economic, and social advantages that deserve our attention and support.”
On the first day of the forum, Kishor Rajhansa, COO of GCC, joined a key session on catalysing carbon markets and investments as a crucial strategy for reducing GHG’s emissions and achieving a sustainable future.
The second day of the event was marked by a range of masterclasses where senior members of GCC delved into carbon standards, monitoring, reporting and verification frameworks within the context of CCUS.
The third and final day of the forum invited experts on a field tour to TechnoHub – Gord’s RDI facility inside Qatar Science & Technology Park where researchers engage in long-term multidisciplinary research on energy efficiency and ecofriendly building materials utilising captured carbon.
Dignitaries at the forum.
